A multi-user radiochemical synthesis facility for molecular imaging research

Lead Research Organisation: King's College London
Department Name: Imaging & Biomedical Engineering

Abstract

Nuclear medicine is an established field of medicine with both diagnostic and therapeutic uses; in its diagnostic use, it involves administering radioactive drugs - radiopharmaceuticals - to patients, and then either imaging the distribution of the radiopharmaceuticals non-invasively with a scanner (e.g. a PET scanner for Positron Emission Tomography) to diagnose disease (for example, to discover the location of tumours), or to predict which treatments will be effective for an individual patient with a specific disease - a step towards personalised medicine. In its therapeutic use, the radiopharmaceutical emits radiation that is toxic to cancer cells and can kill them with minimal damage to healthy cells. Both diagnostic and therapeutic medicine are on the threshold of implementing ground-breaking innovations clinically, for patient benefit. Diagnostic capability will soon take a leap forward with the advent of Total Body PET, which will allow faster scanning with much lower radiation doses and use of several tracers at once to better characterise disease. Therapeutic capability will also make great strides in the next few years as the introduction of new types of radionuclides - alpha and Auger electron emitters - into the clinic has the potential to transform radionuclide therapy from a palliative (symptom-relief) to a curative treatment.

To fully exploit these imminent breakthroughs, a new generation of radiopharmaceuticals is needed, driven by new radiochemistry research. Research in nuclear medicine is very much concerned with the development of new radiopharmaceuticals for new applications in different diseases. The production and synthesis of the radiopharmaceuticals requires specialised and costly facilities such as cyclotrons and robotic synthesis equipment. Research on new radiopharmaceuticals is largely conducted in the same facilities as routine production of radiopharmaceuticals for clinical use. Consequently it has to be fitted in between the routine daily productions which generally take priority, leaving little time and access for research and development. Increasingly, the drug regulatory bodies demand that research activity is excluded from the clinical production facilities in order to protect them from risk of contamination, further restricting the opportunity to use them for research and development.

The UK is home to a world-leading community of radiopharmaceutical science research groups developing new ideas for radiopharmaceuticals, but they face a severe bottleneck in developing their ideas and putting them to the test because of the above mentioned problems with access to radiochemistry facilities. King's College London is a major UK PET centre which has recently commissioned a new facility for clinical radiopharmaceutical production, leaving its old production laboratory vacant. In this project, we will convert this old laboratory, known as CARL, into a dedicated research radiochemistry laboratory for radiopharmaceutical development - something that does not exist in the UK - overcoming the restricted access to clinical production facilities and providing a unique facility that researchers from across the UK can use, either by visiting CARL directly or commissioning work to produce and supply research radionuclides and radiopharmaceuticals for use in external laboratories.

Research teams from across the UK, and internationally, will then be able to develop new radiopharmaceuticals for preclinical evaluation and potential subsequent clinical application in the diagnosis of a wide variety of high-impact diseases such as cancer, dementia, heart disease and infection; and for treating cancer.
 
Description GE KCL research Collaboration 
Organisation GE Healthcare Limited
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Hosting GE for collaborative research activities
Collaborator Contribution Hosting GE at our laboratory facilities
Impact ..
Start Year 2022
 
Description gsk kcl collaboration 
Organisation GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Country Global 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution collaborative research on drug labelling
Collaborator Contribution financial and some research samples
Impact chemistry, biology, pharmacology
Start Year 2022
 
Description Royal Society of Chemistry Radiochemistry Group & King's College London Radionuclide Production in the UK Wednesday 18th October 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The meeting explored the current status of radionuclide production and prospects for the future. Radionuclide production for nuclear medicine and other applications will be covered in this meeting.
We heard from a great selection of invited speakers who will present their research and facility development across a range of technologies including extraction from nuclear waste, accelerator/cyclotron-based production and purification methods, new technologies, and the current growth and innovation in the uses of radionuclides. We also accepted abstracts for posters on these topics.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/76382/radionuclide-production-in-the-uk
 
Description UK PET Chemistry 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact A national symposium hosted at KCL on the topic of PET Radiochemistry - attended by over 100 delegates from around the UK and with industry representation. A mixture of early career researcher talks, keynotes, posters and workshops.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://a8d31aa2-77e9-4491-b295-92c196dcee2b.filesusr.com/ugd/98bcc2_5e83809ffd234203a635779f2bc1f4b...
 
Description Workshop on Radionuclide production and radiochemistry 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Cyclotron and Radiochemistry Laboratory (CARL) at King's College London opened as a new research-only radiochemistry national facility in March 2023. The facility supports radionuclide production and radiopharmaceutical chemistry research and development, and also has the potential to facilitate the critical hands-on training needed to sustain this kind of technical expertise in the UK.
In connection with the UK PET Chemistry meeting hosted by King's College London, the CARL facility ran its first pilot workshop in October 2023. The workshop was aimed at technical staff from PET Centres across the UK. We offered 8 spaces, and all were filled, with participants from University College London, Medicines Discovery Catapult (Manchester), King's College London, University of Cambridge, University of Hull, Cardiff University and the National Physical Laboratory. The workshop was facilitated by staff from Xiel, who delivered training on Eckert & Ziegler modular lab automated equipment, and LabLogic who delivered training on HPLC analytical techniques.
The 1-day workshop consisted of a classroom session in the morning, followed by hands-on training in the CARL facility in the afternoon. Lunch and refreshments were provided throughout the day.
The morning classroom session was split into two parts - it began with a lecture on basic HPLC equipment set-up and included a review of common issues and how best to troubleshoot. The second session focused on software sequencing of the automated synthesis units for Eckert & Ziegler equipment. In groups, participants were able to familiarise themselves and practice designing sequences with the sequencing software using laptops. After lunch, the workshop moved to the CARL facility where participants could get more hands-on with the automated synthesis kit and HPLC, putting the theory into practice.
The day finished with a group discussion including opportunity for feedback and ideas for future workshops. Feedback surveys will also be sent to participants in due course, ahead of preparations for the next workshop in CARL.
We are very grateful to the teams from Xiel and Lablogic for their time and expertise in delivering this workshop. We are also very grateful for the generous funding from the MRF which enabled us to run this pilot workshop in CARL, including the ability to significantly subsidise travel and accommodation costs for all attendees so that the workshop (and UK PET Chemistry meeting) was financially accessible for all.
We are also very happy to report that the Royal Society of Chemistry Radiochemistry Group have since demonstrated their support for this type of workshop and have committed to financially supporting future workshops in the CARL facility.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023