Southwestern In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Program

Core 3
Radiochemistry/Radiopharmaceutical Development
(Director: Padmakar V. Kulkarni, Ph.D.)

Padmakar Kulkarni, Ph.D., has 25 years experience in both industry and academia in production and development of radionuclides and radiopharmaceuticals. Dr. Kulkarni set up the radiochemistry-radiopharmaceutical laboratories at UT Southwestern, for radiolabeling a variety of precursor molecules with radionuclides for biodistribution, imaging studies of animals and development of radiopharmaceuticals for human clinical studies. He is an Expert Technical Consultant to the International Atomic Energy Agency (Vienna) and member of the Molecular Imaging Task Force of American Society of Nuclear Cardiology. He will guide radiolabeling, quality control and biodistribution studies with tumor targeting peptide nucleic acids, viral vectors and other ligands of interest. The research group has handled a number of radionuclides both single photon emitters such as ^99mTc, ¹¹¹In, ¹²⁵I, ¹³¹I, ¹²³I, ⁶⁷Ga, ²⁰¹Tl and such positron emitters as ⁶⁸Ga (from ⁶⁸G-/⁶⁸Ga generator) and ⁶⁴Cu. A 43 MeV one milliampere linear accelerator and 42 MeV cyclotron will ensure a steady supply of radionuclides, such as ¹²³I, ¹²⁴I, ⁶⁴Cu and ¹⁸F.

The Core has extensive experience radiolabeling diverse compounds for both in vitro and in vivo studies. The radiochemistry laboratory is equipped to prepare and perform necessary quality control procedures for material for human use. Radiopharmaceuticals prepared for human clinical trials include: ^99mTc labeled monoclonal antibodies for imaging small cell lung cancer, ^99mTc labeled sestamibi for cardiac imaging, ¹²³I labeled MIBG (metaiodobenzyl guanidine) and phenyl pentadecanoic acid for myocardial imaging. A new efficient method developed to label phenyl fatty acids with radioiodine (¹²⁵I/¹²³I) was licensed to a radiopharmaceutical manufacturer and is undergoing FDA approval. Typical radiotracers used for oncology and produced in this laboratory by Dr. Constantinescu are listed in table below, indicating the versatility of the core. Dr. Constantinescu will label agents required by the Pre-ICMIC.

  Radiotracers Prepared for Oncologic Imaging (SPECT/PET Imaging):

For Further Information Contact: RALPH  P. MASON, Ph.D.
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