Nuclear Medicine & PET
Principal investigator: Anders Sundin, Mark Lubberink, Jens Sörensen
Research in nuclear medicine & PET is primarily aimed at the development of new PET tracers and clinical PET methods, in order to meet clinical demands and facilitate clinical research, and at the diagnosis and treatment of neuroendocrine tumours. Our research covers the entire perspective from substance screening, through radiochemistry and pre-clinical validation, to clinical implementation (”bench to bedside”). Our clinical research focuses on the use of PET to create the prerequisites for personalised medicine, for example in relation to molecular radiotherapy and other high-cost cancer therapies. Furthermore, our research aims to increase the understanding of molecular processes related to various diseases, such as for example the development of multimodality imaging using PET-MRI in relation to metabolic diseases and cancer. To be able to offer a complete platform for the use of PET and PET-MRI in clinical research and drug development, the PET community at Uppsala university and Uppsala university hospital has a high competence in all aspects of PET methodology: chemistry, physics, data-analysis, etc. The research in the nuclear medicine & PET group at the Department of Surgical sciences is performed in close callobration with the PET-MRI group, the pre-clinical PET platform at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, the Section of Biomedical radiation sciences at the Department of Genetics and Pathology, and the PET centre at Uppsala university hospital, as well as a number of clinical research groups at Uppsala university and Uppsala university hospital.
Project 1: Diagnostics and therapy of neuroendocrine tumours
Project 5: Other applications of PET
Project 6: PET methodology and physics
Project 1: Diagnostics and therapy of neuroendocrine tumours
- Patient-specific dosimetry for optimization of molecular radiotherapy of neuroendocrine tumours with 177Lu-DOTATATE
- Use of 68Ga-DOTATOC and DOTATATE PET for patient selection, response evaluation, and improved dosimetry of 177Lu-DOTATATE therapy

- Dose-response evaluation of 177Lu-DOTATATE therapy

- Evaluation of 11C-5HTP and 68Ga-DOTATOC PET-MRI
- Optimization of specific activity of 68Ga-DOTATOC
Members of the group
Anders Sundin, Mattias Sandström, Ulrike Garske, Mark Lubberink, Irina Velikyan, Ezgi Ilan, Ulrika Jahn
Project 2: PET & Neurology
Projects include:
- Evaluation of [18F]THK5317 as a PET tracer for tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease, in collaboration with Professor Nordberg, Karolinska Institutet

- Development of [11C]PE2I-PET in the differential diagnosis of Parkinsonism

- Characterization of 18F-flutemetamol as a β-amyloid PET imaging ligand
- PET and social anxiety disorder; several studies in collaboration with Professor Mats Fredrikson and Professor Tomas Furmark, Uppsala University
- Low-dose 18F-FDG of the brain
- Development of 11C-LuAE92686 as a PET tracer for PDE10A in collaboration with Lundbeck AS, and assessment of PDE10A activity in schizophrenic patients in collaboration with Robert Boden, Uppsala University

- SVCA function in epileptic patients using 11C-UCBA-PET-MRI
- Evaluation of stemcell-treated MS patients with 11C-Deprenyl, 11C-PK11195 and 15O-water, in collaboration with Joakim Burman, Uppsala University
- Neuroinflammation and tau in neurotrauma patients: 11C-PK11195 and 18F-THK5317, in collaboration with Professor Niklas Marklund, Uppsala University
Members of the group
Jens Sörensen, Mark Lubberink, Torsten Danfors, Kerstin Heurling, Lieuwe Appel, Anders Wall, Tanja Kero, Ezgi Ilan, My Jonasson, Johan Lilja, Joao Sousa, David Fällmar
Project 3: PET & Oncology
Projects include:
- Development and validation of [68Ga]ABY025 Affibody molecule for diagnosis of HER2-positive breast cancer

- Development of 68Ga-labelled PET tracers for oncology
- Reproducibility of 18F-fluoride PET
- Various other studies
![X-ray picture: [11C]5-HTP, and [18F]FDG, clearly demonstrating focal GLP-1R-positive lesions that could not be localized by established PET techniques](/digitalAssets/785/c_785518-l_1-k_7.--11c-5-htp--and--18f-fdg--clearly-demonstrating-focal-glp-1r-positive-lesions-that-could-not-be-localized-by-established-pet-techniques..jpg)
Members of the group
Jens Sörensen, Irina Velikyan, Mark Lubberink, Lieuwe Appel, Naresh Regula, Dan Sandberg, Cecilia Wassberg
Project 4: PET & Cardiology
Projects include:
- Clinical evaluation of 15O-water-PET, in collaboration with VUmc Amsterdam and Århus University Hospital
- 11C-PIB for diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis

- Comparison of regadenason and adenosine in pharmacological stress 15O-water PET, in collaboration with Turku PET Centre.
Members of the group
Jens Sörensen, Tanja Kero, Mark Lubberink, Jonny Nordström, Gunnar Antoni (Medicinal Chemistry)
Project 5: Other applications of PET
Projects include:
- Use of 18F-fluoride PET in hip transplants, in collaboration with Gösta Ullmark (Gävle) and Professor Hans Mallmin
- Validation of 11C-HTP as a marker for beta cells in the human pancreas, in collaboration with Professor Olle Korsgren and others
Members of the group
Jens Sörensen, Mark Lubberink, Enn Maripuu, Marie Berglund, Lina Carlbom
Project 6: PET methodology and physics
Projects include:
- A clinically feasible protocol with fully automated processing of dynamic 11C-PE2I PET scans for calculation of relative cerebral blood flow and dopamine transporter availability images

- Estimation of left ventricular ejection fraction based on parametric 15O-water blood volume images: 5D PET
- Validation of quantitative dynamic PET-MRI scans in cardiology, neurology and oncology
- Development and validation of tracer kinetic analysis of various PET tracers (18F-flutemetamol, 18F-THK5317, 68Ga-DOTATATE, 68Ga-ABY025, 11C-PIB in amyloidosis, etc.)

- Dosimetry and biodistribution of new PET tracers (68Ga-ABY025, 68Ga-DOTATOC, 68Ga-DOTATATE)
- Whole-body parametric glucose consumption imaging using serial 18F-FDG PET-MRI scans
Members of the group
Mark Lubberink, Jens Sörensen, Tanja Kero, Jonny Nordström, Mattias Sandström, Joao Sousa, Kerstin Heurling, Ezgi Ilan, Johan Lilja, Emil Johansson, My Jonasson