Fabian Kiessling Honored As Outstanding Researcher
Profesor Fabian Kiessling, Chair of Experimental Molecular Imaging at RWTH Aachen University, was appointed Fellow of the World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS) at the WMIC Virtual 2020 conference. Founded in 2011, the organization has been dedicated to understanding biology and medicine through multimodal in-vivo imaging of cellular and molecular events involved in normal and pathological processes.
According to the Society, WMIS Fellows have made significant contributions to molecular imaging, including instrumentation and probe development and continue to contribute to the field with new technologies and insight into understanding the biology that drives the future of the field.
Fabian Kiessling studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg and received his doctorate in internal medicine in 2001. Subsequently he worked at the German Cancer Research Center, DKFZ, before transferring to the Department of Oncology at Thoraxklinik Heidelberg in 2003. In the same year, he also became head of the Molecular Diagnostics group at the DKFZ; in 2006, he was appointed leader of the junior research group on Molecular Imaging. In 2008, he was appointed full professor and head of the Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging at Uniklinik RWTH Aachen and head of the Department of Molecular Imaging at the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University.
Development of New Imaging Techniques and Probes
Kiessling's research focuses on the development of new imaging methods and probes and their application with the aim of better understanding the mechanisms of diseases. In particular, his research has a focus on treating cancer and other diseases associated with pathological blood vessel formation and vascular remodeling.
He has developed a special imaging technique, the so-called "Volumetric Area Detector Computed Tomography", and, together with Professor Georg Schmitz from Ruhr-Universität Bochum, published on the ultrasound technique "Motion Model Ultrasound Localization Microscopy." Both methods enable non-invasive imaging of hair-thin blood vessels in tumors and other tissues.
Furthermore, imaging-based treatments play an important role in Kiessling's translational research. These include the characterization and imaging of biological barriers to drug transport and the development of strategies to overcome these barriers through the use of nanomedicine and drug delivery systems.