Faster Than The Speed Of Light

Cerenkov radiation is the low level of blue-light produced by particles traveling faster than the speed of a light through a dielectric medium. While this phenomenon was originally described in the early 20th century, it has not been shown until recently that it can be used as an emerging in vivo imaging modality where the light emitted by these radionuclides can be detected using optical detector. This new modality, called Cerenkov Luminescence Imaging (CLI), although it requires highly sensitive optical cameras to detect the low amount of photons emitted, it offers several advantages as compared with other imaging modalities. For example, the imaging equipment remain cheaper than that of PET or MR scanner. In fact, readily available equipment such as a bioluminescence scanner can be used as well as a custom designed imaging set up. Furthermore, CLI allows imaging of radionuclides that cannot be imaged otherwise such as the ⁹⁰Y or ²²⁵Ac. In this presentation, we will present the targeted imaging of prostate and breast tumors using CLI. Furthermore, work will be presented on the design of activatable Cerenkov agents, making a radioactive signal switchable for the first time.