Date/Time Date(s) - 09/06/20261:30 pm - 2:30 pm
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Dr. Melissa Chase
Senior Principal Scientist at Eli Lilly and Company
Abstract: Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a rare, incurable form of childhood brain cancer commonly diagnosed between the ages of 5-10 years old with an average survival of less than one year. Chemotherapeutic development in DIPG has been hindered by the lack of blood-brain barrier disruption, which makes drug delivery to the tumour difficult. Additionally, molecular characterization of disease relies on invasive brainstem tumor biopsies, which cannot be performed longitudinally to monitor disease progression or treatment response in clinical trials. This presentation will focus on Melissa’s recent work in designing and evaluating novel, brain-permeable positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agents as tools to aid drug discovery in DIPG, including topics in medicinal chemistry, radiosynthetic chemistry, and rodent PET imaging studies. She will also discuss her work to identify feasible PET imaging targets via radioligand binding assays performed in post-mortem brain tissues from DIPG patients. Biomarkers of interest include astrocytic markers (MAO-B), inflammatory markers (p38 MAPK, P2X7, TSPO), and bone morphogenic pathway markers (ALK2). At the interplay between medicinal chemistry and molecular imaging, her work aims to develop non-invasive tools to help address critical barriers in DIPG research and treatment.
Biography: After completing her undergraduate studies in Chemical Biology at McMaster University (2020), Melissa went on to obtain her Ph.D. in radiochemistry under the supervision of Prof. Neil Vasdev at the University of Toronto. Her doctoral thesis focused on biomarker identification and PET radiotracer development in DIPG. She has been working in neuro-oncology radioligand development for several years and has experience with a range of diagnostic and therapeutic radionuclides (e.g. 3H, 11C, 18F, 89Zr, 111In, 177Lu, 225Ac). She successfully defended her doctoral thesis without revisions in 2025, and now holds the position of Senior Principal Scientist at Eli Lilly and Company working in the Discovery Radiochemistry team.
In-Person: ABB 102