To contrast adverse impact of climate-change-related stressors for sustainable agriculture, Prof. D’Ascenzo explores the frontier of PET setting the theoretical, methodological, and technological fundaments for the transition from a lab-based plant PET imaging to an in-field Agri-PET imaging. In-field measurements obtained with the new portable AGRI-PET system technology developed by Prof. D’Ascenzo, in fact, reflect the complexity of a natural environment, which lab-based experiments can only partially reproduce. The system is equipped with a Kinetically Consistent Data Assimilation (KCDA) signal processing approach for incomplete dynamic crop PET signals, which allows the quantitative interpretation of the PET spatiotemporal signals.

To study brain functionality in neurological diseases, Prof. D’Ascenzo explores the frontier of brain PET technology, investigating the potential of a digital Helmet PET system, which adapts to the head shape with a half-spherical configuration. Its high sensitivity and count-rate capability enable short dynamic frames, opening the possibility of high-resolution dynamic imaging of subjects in free-motion.