The chemistry of molecular imaging

Since the emergence of molecular imaging over 30 years ago, it has arguably become one of the most rapidly growing fields of scientific research, spanning multiple disciplines such as medicine, pharmacology, chemistry, cell biology, and biomedical engineering. In contrast to conventional biomedical imaging by microscopy, where investigations are generally performed on excised tissues, molecular imaging includes in vivo techniques that provide visual and quantitative information on normal or pathological processes at the cellular or sub-cellular level. Most pertinently, these techniques have been designed to be noninvasive to the subject body. As a result, molecular imaging has revolutionised how one can monitor and characterise complex, dynamically changing molecular pathways within the living organisms, thus spurring its rapid development.