PET From Brain to Tumor: Advancing Imaging through Radiochemical Innovations
Oct 3, 2025
2:30PM to 3:30PM
Date/Time
Date(s) - 03/10/2025
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Categories
Prof. Alexey Kostikov
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a powerful molecular imaging modality that enables non-invasive visualization and dynamic quantification of biochemical processes with exceptional sensitivity and tissue penetration. In neuroscience, PET has become indispensable for in vivo studies of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, often serving as the only viable tool for imaging molecular targets in the living brain. In oncology, PET tracers play a critical role in diagnosis and in guiding radioligand therapies for cancers such as neuroendocrine tumors, prostate, and breast cancer.
This seminar will highlight our recent advances in radiochemistry aimed at expanding the molecular imaging toolkit. In the first part, I will present the development of novel small-molecule PET tracers targeting previously unexplored neuroreceptors, including TrkA/B/C, p75NTR, and melatonin receptors (MT1/MT2). In the second part, I will introduce our radiotwin platform built on HetSiFA technology, which enables rapid and efficient labeling of theranostic peptides with either fluorine-18 for imaging or radiometals for targeted radioligand therapy. This approach allows for the development of truly matched diagnostic and therapeutic pairs of radiopharmaceuticals, opening new avenues for precision oncology.
Speaker bio:
Dr. Alexey Kostikov received his M.Sc. in Chemistry from Saint-Petersburg State University (Russia) in 2001 and earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Georgia (USA) in 2007. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Syracuse University, he joined the Montreal Neurological Institute (McGill University) in 2009 as a Research Associate where he later became an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Radiochemistry.
Dr. Kostikov’s research focuses on the development of novel PET radiotracers for in vivo imaging of previously unexplored neurological biomarkers, as well as on improving efficiency of radiolabeling procedures. He is also actively involved in designing theranostic agents for PET imaging and radioligand therapy in cancer. His work spans organic synthesis, radiolabeling using short-lived PET isotopes, and preclinical imaging in animal models.
In addition to his research, Dr. Kostikov has contributed to the operation of the PET/cyclotron core facility at the Brain Imaging Centre (BIC), where he was involved in implementing radiosynthesis procedures and radiometabolite analysis protocols for several PET tracers now used by neuroscience researchers at McGill University and across the province of Quebec.
In-Person: ABB 102
Online: Echo360