Molekuláris bionika és infobionika szakok tananyagának komplex

51

50

The different approaches to the above men-

tioned concerns determine how individuals, a 

smaller group of people, a state or even more 

states  prioritize  these  questions  or  support  fi-

nancially the different options. How much do 

they promote gene research, how much money 

is  spent  on  organ  transplantation,  artificial 

insemination, scientific research? What current 

activities  are  supported?  How  much  are  we 

trying  to  influence  the  future  with  education, 

propaganda? How much money do we actually 

allocate for the treatment of suffering patients, 

how  much  for  prevention?  Is  there  someone 

whose life is more important than others’? Do 

we help tumor patients or we spend our wealth 

on weapons? Do we notice that by the simple 

act of money allocation we decide on the life 

or happiness of individuals, and communities?   

In  the  course  of  the  book,  which  deals  with 

different  issues  of  Bioethics  in  thirteen  chap-

ters, several other questions are addressed.

III.

A

CKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author would like to express his deep 

gratitude towards Gyula Gaizler (1922-1996), 

who was the first pioneer lecturing Bioethics 

at Pázmány Péter Catholic University and this 

present  book  intends  to  be  a  continuation  of 

his oeuvre. 

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51

Biomedical Imaging 

Zoltán Vidnyánszky, Viktor Gál, 

Éva Bankó, Miklós Gyöngy 

Pázmány Péter Catholic University 

Faculty of Information Technology 

Budapest, Hungary 

[e-mail] 

György Erőss 

Philips Healthcare 

Philips Hungary Ltd. 

Budapest, Hungary 

 

 

István Kóbor, Lajos R Kozák 

MR Research Center, Szentágothai 

J. Knowledge Center 

Semmelweis University  

Budapest, Hungary 

 

Summary — The course introduces current 

imaging methods in the medical practice and 

biomedical research. Modern X-ray, CT, PET, 

PET-CT, MRI and US equipment, principles of 

the imaging techniques, analysis and practical 

issues are also covered by the presentations. 

There is a special emphasis on the application 

areas of MRI: 9 of the 21 lectures discuss dif-

ferent aspects of this modality including special 

topics such as pharmacological and small ani-

mal MRI. The other field given special empha-

sis is ultrasound: an exhaustive introduction 

from the basics to advanced imaging types cov-

ered in nine additional lectures. 

Keywords - Imaging, X-ray, CT, MRI, DTI, 

phMRI, fMRI, PET, US, Biological Imaging, 

Radiography, SPECT, Nuclear Medicine, 

Tomography, Diagnostic ultrasound, Gamma 

Camera, Clinical Imaging, Functional Imaging, 

Neuroimaging, MRI Technology, MR physics, 

MR spectroscopy, Perfusion Weighted Imaging, 

BOLD Imaging, Clinical fMRI, Pharmaceutical 

fMRI, Connectivity Mapping, Animal fMRI, 

fMRI Biomarker, Optogenetic fMRI, Electrical 

Microstimulation fMRI, Diffusion Weighted 

MRI, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), 

Tractography, Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL), 

Source Localization 

I.

 

I

NTRODUCTION

 

A.

Highschool background 

Detailed knowledge about the subject is not 

required; however, the course builds upon 

basic knowledge of functional neuroanatomy 

and nuclear physics. Competence in biology 

and linear algebra is assumed. Audience will 

be given extensive glossary to be able to fol-

low the curriculum. 

B.

 Topics in higher education 

Preparing the curriculum we built upon our 

own slides and the publicly available curricula 

of universities with long history of neuroim-

aging often exclusive to functional MRI. We 

exceed the generally available slides with in-

cluding other neuroimaging modalities (such 

as CT and PET) and introducing less main-

stream MRI techniques (such as DTI, ASL) 

and funtional MRI applications (such as clini-

cal fMRI, pharmacological fMRI). 

II.

R

ESULTS

 

The course is split into 12+9 chapters, in-

cluding approx. 1000 slides. The biggest em-

phasis is given to functional MRI, which is 

detailed in seven chapters, four of which in-

troduces the physics and engineering back-

ground, data collection, and basic and ad-

vanced analysis techniques, while the other 

three give numerous examples of application 

in basic neuroscience, clinical practice, and 

pharmacology.  

Two chapters present less prevalent and 

hence less known MRI techniques, while the 

remaining three lectures inform about other 

neuroimaging modalities: X-ray, CT and PET.  

The nine additional lectures are dedicated 

to ultrasound, encompassing various topics 

from the phenomenological principles of 

acoustics on which ultrasound imaging is 

based to the latest ultrasound-based imaging 

methods such as sonoelastography and photo-

acoustic imaging. 

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53

52

III.

METHODS 

We developed a slide series for the lectures 

with informative figures pertaining – but not 

limited – to engineering and physics back-

ground of these neuroimaging modalities and 

schematic illustrations of imaging techniques 

which make them readily comprehensible (see 

example below). 

2011.10.07..

TÁMOP – 4.1.2-08/2/A/KMR-2009-0006 

41

Principles of ASL: acquiring tagged image

• Tag/label (with inversion) water in the blood proximal

of imaging plane

• Wait predefined period of time for blood to arrive

• Acquire tagged image

2011.10.07..

TÁMOP – 4.1.2-08/2/A/KMR-2009-0006 

41

www.itk.ppke.hu

Label slab

Scan slab

time

Label: inversion pulse

Image: scan

Blood flow

TI

Biomedical Imaging: Recent Advances in MRI

 

 

 

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53

Introduction to Biophysics 

Péter Závodszky,Dániel Györffy 

Pázmány Péter Catholic University 

Faculty of Information Technology 

Budapest, Hungary 

[e-mail], [e-mail]

Summary  —This course material is ad-

dressed mainly to bachelor and master’s degree 

students in molecular bionics and biology. The 

material grew out of courses in biophysics and 

physical biochemistry at Pázmány Péter and 

Eötvös Loránd Universities in Budapest as well 

as at UCLA in Los Angeles. The text and fig-

ures emphasize those aspects of physics and 

physical-chemistry which find applications to 

the life sciences. The approach is interdiscipli-

nary in the sense that principles and methods 

of physics, chemistry and biology are used to 

describe the events in a living cell at the level of 

molecules. An attempt is made to provide con-

ceptual explanations of the models and equa-

tions so that students can reinforce quantitative 

description with qualitative understanding. 

Keywords— molecular biophysics; physical 

biochemistry; life sciences 

I.

I

NTRODUCTION

Biophysics is the discipline of quantitative-

ly describing physical phenomena taking place 

in biological systems. 

 Our course focuses on molecular biophys-

ics,  mainly  the  biological  macromolecules  in 

aqueous solution. Two chapters are devoted to 

an important - and from a didactical point of 

view,  the  most  interesting  -  macromolecules: 

proteins, to show how to apply the basic and 

general  concepts  of  biophysics  to  biological 

systems. 

Physical approach to molecular life scienc-

es rests on three main conceptual theories: 

Quantum mechanics that  describes  the 

motions and energies of microscopic particles. 

In  contrast  to  quantum  mechanics  thermo

dynamics deals  with  macroscopic,  directly 

observable properties, and places strict limita-

tions on the interconversion of different forms 

energy.  Since  the  interconversion  of  energy, 

heat and light is basic to life, thermodynamics 

is  unavoidable  to  describe  living  matter.  An-

other  important  facet  of  thermodynamics  that 

it allows us to predict equilibrium state having 

only  the  properties  of  substances  involved  in 

metabolism. 

Statistical mechanics bridges  the  micro-

scopic  realm  of  quantum  mechanics  to  the 

macroscopic realm of thermodynamics. 

 The  aim  of  this  curriculum  is  to  demon-

strate  that  scientists  must  resort  to  experi-

ments, and quantum and statistical mechanics 

constitute the framework within which exper-

iment must be interpreted at the level of atoms 

and molecules. 

A.

P

PREREQUISITES

To  be  able  to  follow  the  course  easily, 

students should have some basic mathematical 

knowledge. The topics used in this curriculum 

include  one-  and  multidimensional  calculus 

(functions, 

derivation, 

integration), 

differential  equations  and  vector  algebra. 

Some  non-standard,  and  hence  more 

complicated,  elements  also  appear,  but  their 

complete  knowledge  is  not  required  to  fully 

understand the course. 

We  also  build  upon  the  knowledge  of  the 

laws and equations of Newtonian mechanics. 

The greater part of the course deals with the 

physics of bimolecular systems, so knowledge 

of  some  basic  chemical  concepts  is  also 

required

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54

B.  O

FFERED COMPETENCIES

Through  the  course,  students  can  learn 

about methods used to 

quantitatively  describe  some  simple 

phenomena,  and  several  techniques  of 

describing  a  more  complicated  process  or 

system  starting  at  the  simplest  representation 

of  them  and  advancing  to  more  complicated 

descriptions  by  taking  progressively  more 

details and conditions into consideration. 

II.

TOPICS

The course material consists of 10 chapters 

with  731  slides.  Besides  text,  there  are  240 

figures and 28 tables. 

The  first  chapter  presents  the  fundamental 

equations  and  concepts  of  phenomenological 

and  statistical  thermodynamics.  The  second 

and  third  chapters  present  both  the  experi-

mental  and  theoretical  aspects  of  reaction  ki-

netics.  Understanding  the  current  theory  of 

bimolecular kinetics requires basic knowledge 

of  quantum  mechanics,  so  a  longer  quantum 

mechanical  introduction  is  incorporated  into 

the third chapter. 

From the fourth to sixth chapters, students 

can  become  acquainted  with  the  thermody-

namics of solutions. The fourth chapter starts 

with  neutral  solutions  with  only  two  compo-

nents, and the sixth one discusses the thermo-

dynamics of electrolytes. 

The  seventh  chapter  provides  an  introduc-

tion to the topic of molecular interactions, and 

discusses  the  binding  of  one  or  several  small 

ligands to a biological macromolecule. 

The  eighth  chapter  describes  the  common 

components  and  electronic  properties  of  bio-

logical membranes. 

The  last  two  chapters  deal  with  proteins. 

Structural  features  are  presented  in  the  ninth 

chapter and the special function of proteins as 

enzymes are discussed in the tenth chapter. 

III.

METHODS 

The  curriculum  emphasizes  the  rigorous 

mathematical derivation of different laws. We 

made  an  effort  to  present  the  derivations  in 

small steps for better clarity while keeping the 

material sufficiently concise. 

The  practical  applications  of  concepts  and 

equations  are  exemplified  by  experiments  to 

provide  qualitative  interpretation  to  models 

and quantitative descriptions of the phenome-

na.

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