Stravitz–Sanyal Liver Institute Opens $30 Million Clinical Research Imaging Center to Accelerate Liver and Metabolic Disease Drug Development
核心洞察
The Stravitz–Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health (搜索) at VCU opened a $30 million Clinical Research Imaging Center featuring a rare Siemens Quadra PET/CT scanner, one of only about 20 in the U.S.
The center combines advanced imaging, radiochemistry labs, and clinical trial capabilities to accelerate translational research in liver disease, metabolic conditions, cancer, and inflammation.
Approximately 1 in 3 people worldwide has fatty liver disease (搜索), and more than 40 million Americans have diabetes (搜索), underscoring the urgent need for better therapies that the center aims to address.
A new $30 million Clinical Research Imaging Center has opened at the Stravitz–Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health (搜索) at Virginia Commonwealth University, marking what leadership describes as a transformative step for liver and metabolic disease research. The facility, located in the VA Bio+Tech Park in downtown Richmond, brings advanced scanners, radiochemistry laboratories, and clinical research capabilities under one roof.
The centerpiece of the facility is the Siemens Biograph Vision Quadra PET/CT scanner, which can image the entire body in approximately one minute. The device is one of only about 20 in use across the United States and is among a handful nationwide dedicated exclusively to research. The center also houses advanced MRI machines, equipment for quantitative analysis, and labs for producing safe imaging tracers.
Officials from VCU and VCU Health joined industry leaders to celebrate the center's opening on June 30.
Addressing a growing global health burden
The facility will support research focused on metabolic diseases including obesity (搜索) and diabetes (搜索), as well as cancer and inflammation — conditions that represent growing public health concerns and major priorities for pharmaceutical and biotechnology investment.
Liver disease continues to rise both in the United States and globally. Approximately one in three people worldwide has fatty liver disease (搜索), one of the most common liver ailments. In the U.S., more than 40 million people have diabetes (搜索), and more than 100 million have obesity (搜索) or prediabetes. These conditions increase the risk of serious liver complications, including scarring, liver failure, and cancer. Currently, treatment and therapy options for both liver and metabolic conditions remain limited.
"Our new center is a transformative step for liver and metabolic disease research. By combining cutting-edge imaging, radiochemistry and clinical trial capability in one place, the center will allow us to move discoveries from the bench to people far more quickly and with far greater precision," said Arun Sanyal, M.D., the institute's director and a hepatologist at VCU Health.
A translational research platform
The Clinical Research Imaging Center is staffed with expertise in radiology and radiochemistry to support investigator-initiated studies, industry-sponsored trials, precision-medicine projects, and cross-disciplinary innovation. Researchers using the center's equipment and personnel will be able to develop and validate novel imaging biomarkers, study disease mechanisms in humans, conduct first-in-human imaging studies, evaluate therapeutic response and drug distribution, and advance precision-medicine approaches across multiple diseases.
Sanyal emphasized that the center's combination of technology and disease-focused expertise will position it as a go-to facility for international companies pursuing drug development for hepatology and metabolic conditions. The center aims to attract industry-sponsored trials as well as government grants for researchers seeking faster, clearer ways to develop imaging biomarkers, study disease mechanisms, and test new medicines targeting liver diseases and cancers.
"We look at the whole human body through the lens of the liver," Sanyal said. "We will use the imaging core not only to understand what's happening with the liver but to also answer, with unprecedented power, new questions about other organs as well."
Industry collaboration
Among the industry partners present at the opening was Lars Johansson, CSO of Antaros Medical (搜索), a Danish clinical imaging firm with deep expertise in drug development and disease biology. Antaros Medical plans to collaborate with the liver institute on future research initiatives.
"The center offers a unique world class infrastructure and expertise environment that will enable precise, translational research and accelerate the development of better therapies for patients," Johansson said.
"For patients and for investigators, our new imaging center creates the infrastructure we need to translate scientific insight into safer, more effective treatments and, ultimately, to prevent disease," Sanyal added.