Department of Chemistry Seminar - Dr. James Inkster, Research Associate, Price Lab, University of Saskatchewan
Dr. James Inkster, Research Associate in the Department of Chemistry, will present a seminar at 2:00 pm via Zoom.
Title
Radiopharmaceutical Development of a 18F-labeled Rhodamine for the in vivo Imaging of Myocardial Perfusion and Mitochondrial Distribution via Positron Emission Tomography
Abstract
Rhodamines are fluorescent delocalized lipophilic cations that have high affinity for mitochondria and thus have been used extensively as potentiometric dyes for the study of these ‘powerhouses of the cell’ in vitro.
Heart cells are rich in mitochondria, and thus researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have interest in rhodamine-based radiopharmaceuticals that can be used to evaluate the flow of blood through the heart and thus detect coronary artery disease non-invasively using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging techniques.
The lecture will start with an introduction to PET and positron-emitting radioisotope fluorine-18 (18F), followed by a discussion of radiotracers useful for cardiovascular imaging applications.
The bulk of the lecture will detail the ongoing development of 18F-labeled rhodamines as myocardial perfusion imaging agents, including chemical and radiochemical synthesis, small animal PET imaging, and first-in-human investigations of a promising 18F-PET candidate based on a Rhodamine 6G scaffold ([18F]FRho6G-DEG).
Finally, the role of [18F]FRho6G-DEG in the validation of autologous mitochondrial transplantation will be discussed; mitochondrial transplantation is a revolutionary treatment strategy that utilizes a patient’s own harvested mitochondria to preserve heart tissue that has been damaged by ischemia-reperfusion injury.