Program in Image Guided Neurointerventions (PIGN)

The Program in Image Guided Neurointerventions (PIGN), a division of the Center for Advanced Imaging Research (CAIR), is located in the new HSF-III facility at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM). It is co-directed by Piotr Walczak, MD, PhD and Miroslaw Janowski, MD, PhD, who along with fellow researchers use interdisciplinary approaches to work at the crossroads of therapeutic concepts and technical developments.

The mission of PIGN is to promote utilization of advanced imaging for a variety of neurointerventions in order to fully implement a paradigm of precision medicine that we believe is essential for improving outcomes of CNS disorders.

Progress in implementing effective therapies for CNS disease is frustratingly slow, and lags far behind treatments for other disorders. Resolving this disparity is PIGN's ultimate mission.

Learn more about PIGN

News & Events

2022

Visiting MSU

Thanks to Dr. Assaf Gilad of Michigan State University for breaking the Covid spell and inviting Dr. Walczak to give his first in-person lecture marking a begining of a return to normalcy.

SAVE THE DATE!

The University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine is pleased to present the inaugural Alavi and Bradley Symposium on Molecular Imaging and Theranostics on May 24, 2022. Made possible by generous funding from Dr. Abass Alavi and his wife Dr. Jane Bradley Alavi, the goal of the symposium is to bring together physicians, scientists, and students interested in molecular and nuclear imaging. Featuring a keynote address by Dr. Alavi himself and presentations by Dr. Zaver Bhujwalla and Dr. Dan Vigernon, the symposium also will offer researchers the opportunity to submit abstracts and network with colleagues from around the world.  

For more information, and to register, visit: Symposium

• PIGN Team 2022

• Visiting Scientist Dr. Szymon Nitkiewicz from the University of Warmia and Mazury in Poland joined PIGN for three week internship

2021

• Our report in Nature Protocols providing details on how to precisely and reproducibly perform blood brain barrier opening in mice using MRI guidance 

• Dr Janowski Awarded NIH grant RO1NS120929 Entitled "Image-guided, intra-arterial delivery of antibodies to the central nervous system" To systematically evaluate mechanisms governing brain accumulation of intraarterially delivered antibodies.

• Dr Yajie Liang awarded American Cancer Society Research grant entitled "Multiplex single-cell functional analysis platform under intravital 2-photon microscopy to interrogate heterogeneity of patient-derived glioblastoma in a mouse model"
  

• SLICE2021 Dr. Walczak was invited to give a lecture during an Inspirational Session at the Interventional Neuroradiology event SLICE Next Frontiers, the next step in Montpellier, France on May 11 2021. A recording of his speach and an excellent discussion session can be viewed at: Interventional Neuro-Oncology

2020

• 3rd meeting of the Society for Image Guided Neurointerventions (SIGN) scheduled to be held in Warwick, UK postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic
• 11^th International Symposium on NEUROPROTECTION and NEUROREPAIR (ISN&N) event co-organized by Johannes Boltze, a close collaborator as well as the treasurer of SIGN. Piotr Walczak is co-organizing with Raphael Guzman (University of Basel) a mini-symposium “Neuroprotection and Immunomodulation for Stroke in Post-Thrombectomy Era”. Event was scheduled to be held in Berlin on October 5-7, 2020, but was cancelled due to the pandemic.
• 13th Interventional MRI Symposium, scheduled to be held in Leipzig, Germany, October 9-10, 2020, was cancelled due to the pandemic.

2019

• Dr. Piotr Walczak awarded Visiting Professorship at CICBioMAGUNE, San Sebastian, Spain visiting the lab of Drs. Jesus Ruiz Cabello and Pedro Cabrer to initiate collaboration on intraarterial delivery of nanoparticles to the brain across osmotically opened BBB.
•  SIGN 2019, second meeting of the Society for Image-Guided Neurointerventions.  Baltimore, June 10-11 2019.

2018

• The first conference of the Society for Image Guided Neurointerventions (SIGN) held  on 25-26 of June in Warsaw, Poland: SIGN2018