RADIOCHEMISTRY CORE The main function of the Radiochemistry Core is to conduct the Good Manufacturing Procedures (GMP) synthesis of all radiotracers needed to conduct the research in support of the pilot projects. The core will be directed by Robert H. Mach, Ph.D. Dr. Mach is the Director of the Penn Cyclotron Facility and has over thirty years of experience in the field of PET radiochemistry. Hsiaoju Lee, Ph.D., the Penn Cyclotron Facility Manager, will oversee the day-to-day operation of the facility. She has over ten years of experience in the GMP production of PET radiotracers and has worked closely with Dr. Mach for the past 5 years. An addition to this revised application is the involvement of Yale University in this P30 Center; the P.I. of the radiochemistry component for the Yale PET Center is Dr. Yiyun (Henry) Huang, who developed the kappa radiotracer used in this P30 Center. In addition to the GMP production of PET radiotracers, the Radiochemistry Core will be responsible for the synthesis of all precursors and HPLC standards that are required for the research described in the pilot projects that are not available from commercial sources. As part of the Resource Sharing Plan for this P30 Center, these proprietary precursors and standards will be shared with NIDA-funded investigators outside of Penn as a means of accelerating PET imaging research on the neurobiology of opiate use disorders and neuroinflammation. A final function of the Radiochemistry Core is to conduct the metabolite analysis of arterial blood samples from the PET imaging studies that is required for input function measurements by the data analysis group (directed by Dr. Richard Carson, Yale University PET Center).
