Alpha Particle Therapy: Production, Preclinical Research and cGMP Preparation
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I am an assistant professor at the Mallinckrodt institute of radiology at Washington university. I am
cross appointed in the Radiological Sciences division and in the Cyclotron Facility, where I specialize
in our alpha particle radiotherapy translation service. I have been at Washington university since 2018
after moving from Johns Hopkins university in the department of radiology. My work centers on
development, evaluation and improvement of high linear energy transmission therapies. The research
spans from production to preclinical research and to industrial collaboration for patient use. We use
analytical and novel radiochemical tools to characterize the radiopharmaceutical formulations and
advanced biological models to study distribution and effect of these potent therapies.
One of our goal is to achieve stable chelation of alpha particle emitting radioisotopes for novel
radioimmunotherapy applications. To achieve this undertaking, we have investigated the chelation of
two radiometals: 227Th4+ and 223Ra2+. Supply of isotopes is set in-house with purification of 223Ra and
227Th from a source of 227Ac. We have developed methods to specifically detect 227Ac, 227Th and 223Ra
in various sample shapes. This work has allowed to test and validate chelation for 223Ra2+ and 227Th4+
compatible with biological material applied to in vitro and in vivo evaluations. A focus has been
undertaken to understand the in vivo redistribution of the daughter isotopes, once decayed in
circulation.
Another part of my research includes cGMP development of 225Ac radiopharmaceuticals at the
cyclotron facility. Utilizing an automated radiolabeling strategy, we are producing an 225Ac-labeled
peptide and have developed quality control methods of 225Ac-radiopharmaceutical approved for IND
submission. We have studied the effect of 227Ac long-lived contaminant in the radiolabeling step, and
implications for patient preparation purity.