Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry: From the Bench to the Bedside
Neil Vasdev, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
& Senior Scientist (Radiochemist), PET Centre,Centre for Addiction and Mental
Health
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and University of Toronto have an
established history in the synthesis of radiopharmaceuticals from "bench to
bedside" for clinical Nuclear Medicine. Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
is a medical imaging technique that uses "drugs" labelled with short-lived
radioisotopes such as fluorine-18 (half-life of 2 hours) and carbon-11
(half-life of 20 min). Basic chemistry research is critical to advance the
development of new radiopharmaceuticals. This presentation will focus on
rapid, multi-step synthetic chemistry that our laboratory develops to
prepare radiopharmaceuticals for imaging patients suffering from psychiatric
disorders and cancers.