The World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS) has announced the addition of two new interest groups: Synthetic Biology and Reporter Genes (SyBRG) and Molecular Imaging Nanotechnology and Theranostics (MINT).

WMIS interest groups are communities made up of professionals from within the molecular imaging industry with specific shared interests. These groups work together to set standards, create lasting networks, and help advance their area of expertise.

“As president of the WMIS, I see the interest groups as the life blood of the society; they invigorate the community with new ideas and support the field with standardization and consistency,” Christopher Contag, PhD, Stanford University, WMIS 2016 president, said in a prepared statement. “The founding members of the new interest groups are among the most talented and energetic young investigators in our field, and I was pleased to work with them to create these new communities of accomplished scientists within our society. WMIS is well known for innovative thinking and early recognition of game changing ideas that create new opportunities for advancing science and revealing the cellular and molecular basis of human health and disease. The interest groups embrace this spirit of innovation and are defining the ‘firsts’ in our field and its associated industries.”

Mikhail Shapiro, PhD, California Institute of Technology, founding co-chair of the SyBRG interest group, said synthetic biology has numerous connections to molecular imaging.

“Synthetic biology and molecular imaging are natural partners because as scientists engineer cellular therapies to treat various human diseases, it is imperative that they watch where these cells migrate in the body and assess what they do when they reach their target,” Shapiro said in the same statement. “At the same time, the engineered cells themselves can be programmed to serve as diagnostic agents.”

Moritz Kircher, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, founding chair of the MINT interest group, noted that the field of nanotechnology has been growing worldwide.

“The overarching goal of MINT is to enable the advancement and clinical translation of nanoparticle-based agents, for molecular imaging and theranostics applications," Kircher said in the statement. "At the 2016 WMIC in New York, we aim to have an open kick-off event, where we will introduce the new interest group and showcase the latest developments in nanotechnology to the larger audience. This will be followed by a meeting of the founding members to discuss the bright future of nanotech in healthcare and further define the goals of MINT.”

This increases the total of WMIS interest groups to nine. The other seven are: Early Stage Professionals in Molecular Imaging Sciences (ESPMIS), Women in Molecular Imaging Network (WIMIN), Managers of Molecular Imaging (MOMIL), Ultrasound Molecular Imaging and Drug Delivery (UMIDD), Imaging of Infections (IOI), Advancing Drug Development through Molecular Imaging (ADDMI), and Optical Surgical Navigation (OSN).

More information on these interest groups can be found on the WMIS website.