May 2026 - Dr. Siqi Li Receives His First NIH R01 Grant

We are pleased to share that Dr. Siqi Li, Assistant Project Scientist in the lab of Dr. Guobao Wang, has received his first NIH R01 award to develop practicalPET parametric imaging methods for pediatric cancer imaging. The project focuses on advancing dynamic PET imaging techniques that provide more quantitative measures beyond conventional standardized uptake values (SUVs), without requiring lengthy scan times that are impractical for children.

The research will develop and evaluate a streamlined kinetic modeling approach, Relative Patlak plot, which can be directly applied to total-body clinical scans for parametric imaging without changing the existing scan protocol. Unlike other simplified methods that rely on the population-based database, this approach can adapt to different scanning time, protocols, and other tracers. The project will investigate applications for improved lesion detection, treatment response prediction, and broader implementation on both total-body and conventional PET scanners. By enabling efficient and quantitative whole-body PET imaging in children, the work aims to fill an important gap in pediatric cancer imaging and expand access to advanced PET methodologies previously limited largely to adult studies. 

This award is an important milestone for Dr. Li and advances our lab’s broader efforts in quantitative molecular imaging. Congratulations to Siqi on this exciting achievement!