| Victor Pike, Ph.D., Chief
The primary role of this Section is to develop and implement new radioligands and radiotracers for the selective PET imaging of molecular targets in animal and human brain. These probes are vital for PET investigations of the underlying causes of mental illness and of the mechanisms and efficacies of existing or proposed treatments. The main challenges faced by this section are: i) the discovery and design of candidate probes, ii) the organic synthesis of the candidate probes and of related precursors suitable for introduction of a radiolabel, iii) the rapid labeling of the candidates with cyclotron-produced short-lived isotopes, especially 11C (t1/2 = 20. 3 min) and 18F (t1/2 = 109.7 min), iv) the rapid purification of the labeled probe, ready for safe administration into a living animal or human subject, v) assessment of the behavior of the labeled probe in vivo (including evaluation of metabolism), and vi) satisfactory regular production of useful probes for PET experiments. The section also performs important fundamental research on the development of new radio-labelling techniques that are likely to be of generic value in future labeled probe development. Members of the Section interact and collaborate with a variety of local and external scientists, including biologists, pharmacologists, physicists, biomathematicians, neurologists and psychiatrists. The Section enjoys access to 3 cyclotrons and is well-equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for organic synthesis (2 modern laboratories), analysis (NMR, LC-MS, GC-MS, HPLC) and radiochemistry (6 hot-cells with automated equipment). |
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For information about NIMH and its programs, please email, write or phone us. This page was last updated: 03/18/2005. |