Affiliation: Radboud University Medical Center (RUMC), Cenya Imaging B.V., GE Healthcare, NL
Keywords: Imaging, Cell tracking, MRI, Multimodal, Therapy, SPECT
Full profile:
Mangala started her career in research at the National University of Singapore, before completing her Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University (USA). She is currently a Group Leader at the Dept. of Tumor Immunology, at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Her work focuses on agents for in vivo imaging. Mangala’s early work helped establish the field of 19F MRI for quantitative in vivo cell tracking, including the first paper on the topic. More recently, her group works on customizable nanoparticles for imaging and advanced personalized medicine applications, such as cell therapies. Some of these nanoparticles are produced at GMP-grade for a clinical cell tracking study using multimodal imaging, in melanoma patients. Her group works with fluorescence, MRI, PET, SPECT, ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging in different disease models, particularly cancer and cardiovascular disease. This multidisciplinary work is, and has been, supported by prestigious grants such as an NWO VENI, ERC Starting Grant (the largest European grant available to early stage researchers), ERA-NET CVD grant, two ERC PoCs, and others. She won the Dutch Venture Challenge in 2015, for her ideas on cell tracking.
Overall, Mangala’s team has taken a new type of imaging agent from development to the clinic and commercialization.
Mangala is also active within the Young Academy of Europe (YAE), where she is currently elected as Chair for a second term; she also served as Category Chair for the European Molecular Imaging Meetings, twice. She is an Associate Editor for the journal European Reviews. Mangala was also shortlisted for the World Molecular Imaging Society WIMIN Outstanding Leadership award in 2019.
In addition to her academic career, Mangala works for GE Healthcare in Strategy, Search and Evaluation, where she helps identify and evaluate emerging technologies in the fields of imaging. She is also CSO in Cenya Imaging B.V., a spin-off based on her research.
Mangala has given many invited talks and been on panels, such as at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, CATAPULT UK, Phacilitate Cell and Gene Therapy, European Infrastructure for Translational Medicine (EATRIS), and European Parliament Science and Media Hub. She has also been invited to several meetings, such as by the International Science Council, the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) and European University Association (EUA).
Spin-off: www.cenyaimaging.com
Research interests:
