These days, we see significant technological advancements in medical scanning methods. In fact, they are now so advanced that with modern PET/CT scanners, it is possible to create dynamic images of an entire human body and map organs in the smallest detail.

Ole Lajord Munk, who is a trained hospital physicist and holds a PhD in medicine, is particularly interested in how we can make the most of these new technologies.

"When a disease such as cancer or diabetes occurs in the body, the body's glucose uptake is affected. We can measure these changes using PET scans. However, the images contain more information than can be visually comprehended, which is why it is necessary to develop methods to extract the important quantitative information that doctors also need," he says.

Therefore, the newly appointed professor develops mathematical models and uses artificial intelligence to extract information about the glucose uptake of individual organs from the images. This is crucial to understanding precisely how different diseases affect glucose uptake and how the energy consumption of various organs interacts.

In the long term, Ole Lajord Munk's research could lead to more precise diagnoses and form the basis for more personalized treatment of a wide range of diseases.

Contact

Professor Ole Lajord Munk 
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Nuclear Medicine and PET 
Phone: +45 20 34 54 11 
Email: olelajmu@clin.au.dk