The TLRC Platform ‘Imaging’ is an interdisciplinary research platform that investigates medical imaging’s role in the diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases. The spectrum of our activities includes small animal imaging, life cell imaging and clinical imaging. We conduct original research in new methods and applications of diagnostic imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pediatric and adult medicine. In cooperation with other investigators of the German Center for Lung Research we form a community of specialists in various fields with the common goal of understanding the mechanisms of pulmonary disorders using advanced techniques. Our common goal is an enhanced research output by providing mutual access to state-of-the-art imaging technology and techniques.
In 2018, the Imaging Platform set the course for the establishment of lung radiomics. Radiomics refers to the use of deep-learning tools to analyze the data of medical imaging (such as CT or MRI), allowing us to define new and complex imaging biomarkers. This opens up completely new approaches to pooling these imaging biomarkers with clinical, biological, and genomic data from clinical practice and sharing this information. On the one hand, this enables us to derive models and simulations; on the other hand, we can predict prognosis and outcomes in an interdisciplinary way. Radiomics and the development of the necessary algorithms and analysis programs are still in the early stages; in the future, however, they will make an important contribution to personalized medicine.