Michael Schultz of the National Institute of Standards and Technology says the center will focus on Positron Emission Tomography.
"These images are used by physicians and medical scientists in planning treatments for evaluating the response to certain drugs," Schultz says. "The images help physicians to evaluate the effectiveness of therapies and, of course, plan for further treatments for what is turning out to be an increasing number of diseases - particularly for treatment of certain types of cancer."
Schultz says this technology could lead to medical impacts beyond cancer study.
"The technique is being used for evaluation treatments for diseases, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and many others," Schultz says. "As the industry grows, we'll work to see the NIST-ORNL collaboration grow to meet the calibration needs of the medical community."
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.