For more than 25 years, Bracco is involved in the research and development of ultrasound contrast agents (comprising gaseous microbubbles).Braccos commitment to providing improved diagnostic imaging solutions washighlighted by the introduction ofits clinical agent SonoVue in 2001.Since then, R&D activities in ultrasound contrast technology have been intensified by developing new agents for imaging and therapeutic purposes and also software tools for quantifying contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) signals.In mid-2000, Bracco further demonstrated its commitment of improving diagnostic ultrasound by entering into the area of ultrasound molecular imaging (USMI) ,aimingat early diagnosis and individually tailored treatments, a concept also known as personalized medicine: delivering the right treatment to the right patient at the right time.The first example of its clinically translatable USMI agentis BR55,whose targetingrelies on a ligand specific for a well-known molecular marker of angiogenesis, the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2).Pre-clinical studies have shown that BR55 provides reliable detection of tumours, and also allows the follow-up of various anti-tumoural therapies.This positive pre-clinical proof of concept has prompted Bracco to move a step further, and evaluate the potency of BR55 in clinic for the detection and characterisation of breast, ovary and prostate cancer.More recently,the development of another clinically translatable USMI agent called Microbubble-Selectin (MBSelectin) has been initiated at Bracco.Its targeting relies on a ligand specific for the P-and E-selectin vascular markers which are overexpressed during inflammation.Pre-clinical evaluation demonstrated that this agent is able to map areas of inflammation,for example in the myocardium or bowel of animal models mimicking acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathology,respectively.In addition, MBS electinis also able to monitor treatment response following anti-inflammatory drug therapy with biologics.With the aim to provide a complete solution for CEUS and USMI,Bracco has also entered into the arena of informatics.Indeed,personalised imaging requires quantitative data,in order to detect,stage and monitor treatment response,eventually allowing accurate patient management.For this reason,software tools for quantifying contrast-enhanced ultrasound signals have been developed, initially to support pre-clinical projects.This research activity gave rise to the commercial release in 2011 of theVueBox software for quantifying perfusion using CEUS and supporting the clinical use of SonoVue.The purpose of this lecture will be to give an update of Braccos R&D activity in the field of ultrasound contrast agents,particularly focusing on USMI.Furthermore,it will illustrate that personalised imaging has now entered into a mature phase and is soon to become a clinical reality.