FURI | Fall 2020

Deuterium Metabolic Imaging of Physiological Levels of Glucose

The aim of this project is to identify literature in which supports the idea that Deuterium Metabolic Imaging (DMI) can be applied to detect normal physiological levels of glucose. There is already research that demonstrates detection of super-physiological levels of glucose in large glioblastoma multiform (GBM) brain tumors. However, we want to determine if glucose can be mapped at normal physiological levels to measure the growth of small brain tumors and detect metastases. We can use this knowledge of DMI to better guide tumor therapy and perhaps even engineer new deuterium-based physiological substrates for measuring in vivo metabolism.