Program in Image Guided Neurointerventions (PIGN)
The Program in Image-Guided Neurointerventions (PIGN) is a vibrant hub at the crossroads of molecular imaging, image guidance, and advanced therapeutics such as CRISPR-based technologies, stem cells, and others. Historically focused on the central nervous system (CNS), it is expanding to encompass a broader range of organs and diseases.
PIGN is located in the brand-new HSRF III facility at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM). Piotr Walczak, MD, PhD, and Miroslaw Janowski, MD, PhD, co-direct it. Together with fellow researchers, they use interdisciplinary approaches to work at the intersection of therapeutic concepts and technical developments.
The mission of PIGN is to promote the exploitation of advanced imaging for various interventional procedures to fully implement a paradigm of precision medicine that we believe is essential for improving outcomes of CNS disorders. Progress in implementing effective therapies for CNS disease is frustratingly slow, and lags far behind treatments for other disorders. Resolving this disparity is PIGN's ultimate mission.
Surprisingly, advances in CNS therapies are highly applicable to the rest of the body; therefore, we are taking advantage of them to maximize their utility. Solid tumors, muscle diseases, and others may benefit from technologies initially designed for the brain and spinal cord.
PIGN also collaborates with many entities across the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, such as the Veterans Administration, Institute for Human Virology, the Department of Neurosurgery, the Department of Radiation Oncology, and the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, and others. Moreover, it also shares projects with the University of Maryland College Park, Johns Hopkins, University of Miami, University of Hamburg-Eppendorf, and others.
Upcoming Event
PIGN Seminar Series
Johannes Boltze, MD, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
"The Idea of Acute Cerebroprotection and Most Recent Insights from Stroke Therapy Academic Industry Roundtable (STAIR) XIII"
Monday, March 31, 2025
3:00 P.M.
Frenkil Lecture Hall, Health Sciences Research Facility III
Faculty Host: Miroslaw Janowski, M.D., Ph.D.
More information on the seminar
6th Conference of the Society for Image Guided Neurointerventions (SIGN 2026)
Spring 2026
Victoria Falls
Zimbabwe, Africa