Area of Research

Development of targeted radiopharmaceuticals for oncological indications in preclinical and clinical settings

Approved Research Projects

• "COPPER PET with 61Cu-NODAGA-LM3 for the detection of Neuroendocrine Tumors" Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF), Investigator Award
• EU EraPerMed Joint Translational call for proposals for “Research projects on personalized medicine – smart combination of pre-clinical and clinical research with data and ICT solutions”. Title: “Novel 99mTc-labeled somatostatin receptor antagonists in the diagnostic algorithm of neuroendocrine neoplasms – a feasibility study (TECANT)”.
• “New PET tracers established on a novel Cu-61 platform”. Innosuisse-Swiss Innovation Agency
• “A theranostic approach for augmenting the diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy in neuroendocrine tumours and other somatostatin receptor positive tumours”. Collaborative research agreement with ITM Oncologics GmbH
• “Development of a new class of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis and therapy of CXCR4-expressing malignancies based on the endogenous CXCR4 antagonist EPI-X4”. Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF),
• “Proof of concept of therapeutic application of 131I-mIBG in the neuroblastoma IGR-NB8 xenograft mouse model with CUDC-907, a dual histone deacetylase (HDAC) and PI3K inhibitor”. InnoSTEP (Confidential), PACTT-Technology Transfer Office UNIL-CHUV
• “Improving treatment of carcinomas via precision imaging of the tumour microenvironment with Copper-61 Kalios”. Innosuisse-Swiss Innovation Agency,
• “Catalytic drugs for cancer chemotherapy”. PhD school of the Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI), University of Basel

Collaborations

National Collaborations

Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Laboratoire des Catécholamines et Peptides, Lausanne, Switzerland

• PD Dr. Eric Grouzmann
• Dr. Karim Abid

Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland

• Prof. Roger Schibli
• PD Dr. Cristina Müller
• Dr. Martin Béhé

University of Basel

• Prof. Thomas Ward, Department of Chemistry
• Prof. Daniel Häussinger, Department of Chemistry

Industrial Partners (currently)

• Nuclidium AG, Basel, Switzerland

International Collaborations

• Prof. Jan Münch, Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
• Prof. Stefan Schulz, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
• Prof. Wolfgang Weber, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany
• Prof. Dr. Roderich Süssmuth, Institute of Chemistry, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
• Prof. Dr. Annette Beck-Sickinger, Institute of Biochemistry, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
• Prof. Michael Schultz, Department of Radiology, University of Iowa Health Care, Iowa, USA
• TECANT consortium (Prof. Alicja Hubalewska Dydejczyk, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland, Prof. Renata Mikolajczak, National Centre for Nuclear Research, Otwock, Poland, Prof. Irene Virgolini, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria, Dr. Urban Simončič, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Industrial Partners (currently)

• ITM, Garching Munich, Germany
• Perspective Therapeutics, Iowa, USA