Research Focus

Oncology & Hematology

Area of Research

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

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

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
  Viewpoint Molecular Targeting, Iowa, USA

1. “New PET tracers established on a novel Cu-61 platform”.
2.  “Improving treatment of carcinomas via precision imaging of the tumour microenvironment with Copper-61 Kalios”.
3.  “Development of a new class of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis and therapy of CXCR4-expressing malignancies based on the endogenous CXCR4 antagonist EPI-X4”.
4.  “A theranostic approach for augmenting the diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy in neuroendocrine tumours and other somatostatin receptor positive tumours”.
5.  “Enhancing monoamine transporters expression in neuroendocrine tumors to improve radionuclide imaging and therapy”.
6.  “Head-to-head comparison of different classes of FAP binders designed to increase tumor radiation dose: dimer, albumin binders, and small molecules vs peptides”.