Peter Caravan, PhD, is co-director of the Institute for Innovation in Imaging (I3) at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. He leads a multidisciplinary and translational molecular imaging lab (the Caravan Lab) focused on the invention of novel molecular probes and their broad applications in cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal and hepatic diseases, as well as in cancers.  His research spans novel chemistry technologies from advanced MRI and PET imaging in animal models to applications in patient populations. He holds Investigational New Drug (IND) applications for a fibrin-targeted PET tracer and a collagen-targeted PET tracer that are currently being evaluated in 6 clinical trials. He has invented molecular probes specific to fibrogenesis, acidosis, inflammation and thrombosis, as well as gadolinium-free MR contrast agents.

Dr. Caravan received a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of British Columbia. Following postdoctoral work at the EPFL (Switzerland), he spent 9 years at Epix Pharmaceuticals developing tissue-specific and responsive MRI contrast agents, one of which, gadofosveset, was approved by the FDA and the EMA. He co-invented EP-2104R, which was the first molecularly targeted MRI contrast agent to enter clinical trials. Since joining MGH in 2007, he has been continuously funded by the NIH.

Education

PhD in Inorganic Chemistry, University of British Columbia

Select Publications

1. Desogere P, Tapias LF, Hariri LP, Rotile NJ, Rietz TA, Probst CK, et al. Type I collagen-targeted PET probe for pulmonary fibrosis detection and staging in preclinical models. Sci Transl Med. 2017;9(384).

2. Chen HH, Waghorn PA, Wei L, Tapias LF, Schuhle DT, Rotile NJ, et al. Molecular imaging of oxidized collagen quantifies pulmonary and hepatic fibrogenesis. JCI Insight. 2017;2(11).

3. Gale EM, Wey HY, Ramsay I, Yen YF, Sosnovik DE, Caravan P. A Manganese-based Alternative to Gadolinium: Contrast-enhanced MR Angiography, Excretion, Pharmacokinetics, and Metabolism. Radiology. 2018;286(3):865-72.

4. Blasi F, Oliveira BL, Rietz TA, Rotile NJ, Naha PC, Cormode DP, et al. Multisite Thrombus Imaging and Fibrin Content Estimation With a Single Whole-Body PET Scan in Rats. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2015;35(10):2114-21.

Highlights

Fellow of the ISMRM

Distinguished Investigator, Academy of Radiology Research

2019 Recipient of the Torsten Almén Award

2020 Recipient of the MGH Thrall Mentoring Award

Over 15 issued patents, over 140 peer-reviewed journal articles

Websites

Institute for Innovation in Imaging (I3)
The Caravan Lab