BOSTON – Brigham and Women's Hospital, a 777-bed teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and GE Healthcare are teaming up to conduct molecular imaging research aimed at developing personalized treatment for cancer, brain and heart disease.

Clinicians and scientists from BWH and GE Healthcare plan to use molecular imaging and radiopharmaceutical development tools to develop personalized approaches to the diagnosis and management of patients.

Data from the medical research in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is expected to leverage GE Healthcare's molecular imaging research efforts and to quickly transition discoveries into the clinical environment.

"Collaborations of this caliber are direct investments in the future of healthcare," said Terri Bresenham, vice president of the GE Healthcare's molecular imaging business. "Brigham and Women's world-class patient care, in conjunction with their stellar research and clinical-trial track record, make them an optimal partner in discovering new MI technologies to diagnose and treat disease."

"The collaboration of GE Healthcare's resources in chemistry, biology, drug development, engineering and imaging technology with BWH's strengths in clinical research create a partnership with unlimited potential to improve the care of patients," said Steven Seltzer, MD, chairman, of the department of radiology at BWH.

"The more we understand about disease from a clinical standpoint, the better equipped we are to build technologies to improve patient care," said Jean-Luc Vanderheyden, GE Healthcare's global molecular imaging leader. "This collaboration has the ability to accelerate the process of developing more effective methods of diagnosing, treating and monitoring disease."