Presymposium Workshops

Kryptofix, Carbonate and Beyond: New Trends in Radiofluorinations
Chairs: Jennifer Murphy and Chrysoula Vraka

  • Radiofluorination - A long journey reviewed, Anna Pees

    • Modern, highly sophisticated methods enable the radiofluorination of an unprecedented scope of PET probes. Thereby it is easy to forget the many challenges that have been overcome and the innovations in the past 4 decades.

  • State of the art in copper-mediated radiofluorinations of organoboranes, Stefan Verhoog

    • Almost 10 years after the introduction of copper-mediated radiofluorination of organoboranes, this approach is established as a standard method and widely used for the radiofluorination in aromatic positions. Time for an interim analysis what has proven itself and where is room for improvement.

  • Pretargeting: Performing radiolabelling in vivo and “tricking” slow pharmacokinetics, Matthias Herth

    • Pretargeting is an emerging concept to increase tumor-to-target ratios for mAbs or other nanomedicines at early time points. Thereby it is based on a two-step approach: First, a tagged nanomedicines is administered that is allowed to accumulate and excrete at its target for several days. Secondly, a small-molecules based, fast clearing agent is applied that finds specifically the tag of the nanomedicine and reacts with it. Consequently, the best of two worlds can be used for imaging or targeted radionuclide therapy, i.e. the outstanding targeting and drug load capacities of nanomedicines as well as the fast kinetics of small molecules.

  • Click for PET (Part II): Dos and don’ts of [18F]SuFEx click chemistry at a glance, Sven Humpert

    • SuFEx Fluorine-18/Fluorine-19 isotopic exchange is an emerging method for simple, ultrafast and robust radiolabeling of complex molecules. This report on the current state of the art should encourage its adoption by radiochemists to promote further developments in this new research area

Artificial Intelligence in Chemistry/Radiochemistry
Chairs: Giancarlo Pascali & Verena Pichler

  • ABC of computer-aided radiotracer design, Johanna Steen

    • Computer-aided drug design (CADD) is the application of computational techniques and tools in various stages in the drug discovery process. Molecular docking, pharmacophore modeling, molecular mechanics, virtual screening and quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) are just a few strategies covered in the concept of CADD. These computational approaches can of course also be applied for the design and development of novel PET tracers and a couple of different strategies will be shown. After this session you will understand how CADD can help to improve the tracer you are developing!

  • In silico approaches for CNS PET Tracer Design, Peter Scott

    • Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to change how we undertake every aspect of imaging science. This presentation will introduce key concepts in AI and demonstrate how they will impact the way we design and synthesize radiopharmaceuticals in the future, with examples on how to use these tools to solve some sticky questions. This session will provide a nice complement to CADD methods, so now you will not have excuses not to design the best molecule.

  • AI in chemistry, with focus on data-driven reaction prediction, Teodoro Laino

    • AI and Data are driving one of the most notable revolutions in organic chemistry. The use of experimental data, extracted from public documents or collected using ELNs, emerged as one of the most effective, scalable approaches for capturing human knowledge, modelling, and improving chemical processes. Machine learning tasks demonstrated high quality and ease of use in problems such as predicting chemical reactions, retrosynthetic routes, digitizing chemical literature, predicting detailed experimental procedures, designing new fingerprints and yield predictions. Wouldn’t it be great if these concepts made your radiosynthetic life easier?

  • Hands-on workshop, Teodoro Laino

    • In this section we will move some of the concepts of the day into hands-on session. Bring your own laptop (as charged as possible) and we will explore together how to use these technologies in your daily research work. Also, come with a molecule in mind, we may use your proposal as one example!

Efficient Recipes for the Development of Theranostic Radiopharmaceuticals
Chairs: Suzy Lapi & Valery Radchenko

Panel discussion format where 4 panelists involved in the field of theranostics discuss several important aspects:

  1. Tara Mastren (Radionuclide Production and Radiochemistry, University of Utah, USA)

  2. Caterina Ramogida (Chelation and Synthesis of Radiopharmaceuticals, Simon Fraser University/TRIUMF, Canada)

  3. Danielle Vugts (Pre-clinical Translation of Radiopharmaceuticals, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  4. Lisa Bodei (Clinical Translation of Radiopharmaceuticals, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA)

Agenda:

  • Introduction and welcome from moderators

  • Panelists introduce themselves and their research and expertise area (10 minutes per panelist)

  • Discussion among the panelists to address important aspects for design and synthesis of theranostic agents.

  • Questions to panelists from audience (15 minutes)

Participants encouraged to ask questions of panelists at the end of the workshop.