New Cyclotron for Translational PET Imaging Project Summary: We herein request for a replacement Cyclotron for the Center for Biomolecular Imaging (CBI) program at WFUHS. The CBI is a centralized imaging resource at our institution that supports the translational research needs of the entire WFUHS community. Since the inception of CBI in 2002, it supported research activities from 43 departments and generated 159 research grant applications (84 funded grants, 50 pilot studies, and 25 pending grants). We acquired and installed an RDS 112 cyclotron in 1990. Although the cyclotron has provided excellent service for our research isotope needs, several components now need constant replacement and fixing. Over the last year, there have been several malfunctions of the cyclotron, including a circuit board fire, causing long down times for repairs, arranging for replacement parts, and installation. The manufacturer no longer provides a service contract covering a reliable high uptime for this machine, and as of July 2007, Siemens would not extend our `full service contract'. Lacking a reliable service and uptime of our cyclotron has begun to compromise productivity and functioning of our center. The PET center is a key component of the CBI at WFUHS. It employs twelve full-time research staff and supports PET imaging needs of the entire institution. PET radiochemistry laboratories are a designated Core facility for the `Center for Neurobiological Investigation of Drug Abuse'P50 grant now in its 16th year. In addition, the PET Center currently participates in three multicenter clinical trials, two of them funded through NIH. The PET center also supports 18 NIH funded projects/grants, two federally funded multi-center clinical trials, and three industry-sponsored phase I/II clinical trials. All these projects heavily rely on a constant supply of custom-synthesized radiotracers for imaging applications. Although we recently invested $1.3 million to upgrade our radiochemistry laboratories, the present cyclotron is 17 years old. Its unpredictable reliability hinders our ability to ensure completion of funded research projects. Therefore, acquisition of the proposed cyclotron is important for the survival of our PET imaging program at WFUHS.
All our PET research needs and the usage of microPET and whole body PET scanners depend on a functional cyclotron. Lacking a functional cyclotron would severely jeopardize our efforts to strengthen translational research at WFUHS. The proposed cyclotron will aid researchers to execute their funded research and their pilot studies in a timely manner.
