August 12, 2016

New PET scan tracer allows first imaging of the epigenetics of the human brain

A novel PET radiotracer developed at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is able for the first time to reveal epigenetic activity – the process that determines whether or not genes are expressed – within the human brain. In their report published in Science Translational Medicine, a team of MGH/Martinos Center investigators reports how their radiochemical – called Martinostat – shows the expression levels of important epigenetics-regulating enzymes in the brains of healthy volunteers. {read more here}