The Gordon Center for Medical Imaging PET Core is a Partners Healthcare System service core located at Massachusetts General Hospital, which operates a FDA registered, cGMP PET radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facility to supply clinical research and pre-clinical research studies. The Gordon PET Core has over 20 PET radiopharmaceuticals available for human research studies which enable over 100 active clinical research protocols, including over 40 NIH-funded protocols, to conduct PET imaging research at MGH. The volume of clinical research studies has over the past 10 years has dramatically increased. The huge demand from investigators is associated with a large increase of NIH funded studies involving PET imaging that has created a current scheduling lead time of over 8 weeks. The Core PET radiochemistry synthesis units are currently running at maximum capacity. An increase in the manufacturing capacity of C-11 and F-18 PET radiopharmaceuticals through the addition of new synthesis units and associated lead lined hot cell is needed to address the demands from NIH-funded research studies for investigational PET drugs. The proposed instrumentation would have substantial benefit to all the funded NIH projects listed in our application as well as other institutional users and new investigators seeking NIH funding.
Most PET imaging of human subjects relies on the injection of an investigational PET drug that must be produced specifically for each subject which is a significant burden on radiopharmacy production in active PET research programs. In this application, we request funding for the purchase of state-of-the-art systems for the synthesis of F-18 and C-11 investigational PET radiopharmaceuticals to support a large number of NIH-funded clinical research studies. The requested instruments will substantially facilitate access to imaging for cutting- edge funded PET projects in basic and translational clinical research applications at Massachusetts General Hospital.
