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18F-labeled fluorescent dyes for cardiac PET imaging and other applications
					
 Sep 26, 2025 
 2:30PM to 3:30PM

									

				

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	Date/Time

	Date(s) - 26/09/2025
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm





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Prof. James Inkster


Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, McMaster University


 


Molecular imaging using radiopharmaceuticals plays a critical role in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). Every year, 15-20 million patients worldwide with suspected CAD are injected with a technicium-99m (99mTc)-bearing radiopharmaceutical designed to non-invasively detect areas of reduced blood flow through the coronary vasculature. 99mTc emits gamma rays, which are used to generate a 3D image of the heart using Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT). Areas of ischemia are easiest to detect if the patient is scanned twice, once when their heart is in a normal state, and once when it is stressed; thus, this type of scan is called a cardiac stress test (aka myocardial perfusion imaging, or MPI).


Heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) have high energy demands and are thus rich in mitochondria. Intravenously injected 99mTc-MPI agents massively concentrate in respiration-competent cardiomyocyte mitochondria. SPECT-MPI using 99mTc compounds is a reliable and inexpensive technique, but it isn’t ideal for detecting mild disease, and in the context of image resolution, positron emission tomography (PET) provides clearer images- particularly when partnered with ‘best-in-class’ cyclotron-produced PET isotope fluorine-18 (18F).


My lecture will begin by providing a brief overview of radiotracers for PET-based MPI. This will include the short-lived PET radiopharmaceuticals [82Rb]RbCl and [13N]ammonia, as well as the first and thusfar only 18F-labeled MPI agent approved for clinical use- [18F]Flurpiridaz (Flyrcado™, a pyridaben derivative).


I will then detail my experiences at Boston Children’s Hospital developing 18F-bearing rhodamine dyes for cardiac imaging applications, including radiosynthetic strategies, fluorescence imaging experiments, preclinical PET in rats and pigs, and finally, in first-in-human trials. I’ll also discuss the role of promising 18F-labeled rhodamine 6G analogue ([18F]Rho6G-DEG-F) in the validation of autologous mitochondrial transplantation, a revolutionary treatment strategy that utilizes a patient’s own harvested mitochondria to preserve heart tissue that has been damaged by ischemia-reperfusion injury.


I’ll end the talk by summarizing more recent initiatives in the Inkster lab towards the development of 2nd generation 18F-rhodamines of greater in vivo stability. The radiochemical synthesis of novel 18F-MPI candidate [18F]Rho6G-DEG-Py-F, which bears an aryl [18F]fluoride rather than an alkyl [18F]fluoride moiety, will be discussed.


 


 


Speaker bio:


Prof. James Inkster joined the Dept. of Chemistry & Chemical Biology at McMaster in 2023, after post-doctoral appointments at Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève and Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Inkster obtained a MSc from Simon Fraser University (SFU) in synthetic organic chemistry and a PhD at TRIUMF (Canada’s National Laboratory for Nuclear & Particle Physics) in radiochemistry. Dr. Inkster’s research focuses on the synthesis and assessment of novel radiopharmaceuticals for non-invasive positron emission tomography (PET) imaging applications, including the detection and staging of neuroendocrine cancer, bacterial infection and cardiovascular disease.


 


In-Person: ABB 102


Online: https://echo360.ca/section/40b2020d-8e36-439d-9b11-55ac788781d5/public