Imaging aspects of tumour biology in the cancer patient can be used for tumour detection, grading and monitoring of treatment response. This session, which should be of interest to both basic scientists and clinicians, will describe new functional imaging methods that have recently been introduced into the clinic. These include hybrid positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MR), MR imaging with hyperpolarised 13C-labelled cell substrates, and photoacoustic and intraoperative fluorescence imaging.