P7 - Synthesis and evaluation of PSMA-targeted imaging reagents

Wolfgang Maison
Institute for Pharmacy, University of Hamburg

A major focus of our research is the development of PSMA-guided reagents for prostate cancer imaging. In a first line of research, we develop and synthesize ligands of low molecular weight for PSMA with improved pharmacokinetics for applications in MRI, PET, SPECT and fluorescence imaging (joint project with CURADEL, Prof. John V. Frangioni ). We focus on phosphinate and urea derivatives, which are evaluated with non-radioactive cell-assays (collaboration with Department of Physics, Prof. W. Parak ). An often neglected part of many imaging reagents is the tracer moiety. Particularly for targeting ligands of small molecular weight, the tracer contributes significantly to the overall pharmacokinetic properties of the whole imaging reagent. For metal-based imaging methods, the metal tracer is typically complexed by a chelator. In a second line of research, we develop novel chelators with improved pharmacokinetics for transition metal tracers such as Gd, Eu, Zr and others. In close cooperation with DESY and the Department of Physics, Prof. Florian Grüner tracers of low molecular weight for X-ray fluorescence imaging are developed.

Contact: wolfgang.maison@uni-hamburg.de