As a research institution, we take pride in our cutting-edge and collaborative research environment. The centralized facilities, expertise, and management of MITC greatly enhance research collaboration and innovation throughout campus and beyond.
In addition to the development of new and exciting radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis or treatment of human cancers, MITC will also serve to assist investigators, staff, and graduate/undergraduate students in additional types of in vivo imaging (e.g., optical and MRI), highly technical research procedures, complicated experimental design, problem-solving, and development of new and innovative research approaches.
Our Researchers
Carolyn Anderson is the Simón-Ellebracht Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Professor of Radiology at the University of Missouri. Her lab performs the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel radiometal-based radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic imaging and targeted radiotherapy of cancer and other diseases.
A current focus of her research lab is the development of imaging agents for up-regulated receptors on immune cells that are involved in inflammation-related primary tumor growth and cancer metastasis, and sickle cell disease.
Michael Lewis is a Professor in the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at the University of Missouri. His research focuses on the development of novel radiopharmaceuticals for molecular imaging and targeted radiotherapy of cancer. These agents include radiolabeled antibodies, peptides, and peptide nucleic acids for targeting cell surface receptors and oncogene products in colorectal, prostate, and breast cancer, as well as in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Research in his laboratory has been translated to three veterinary clinical trials for imaging dogs with prostate cancer and with B-cell lymphoma.
W. Barry Edwards, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Radiology at the University of Missouri. His lab is actively engaged in the design, synthesis, and investigation of novel molecular imaging agents for preclinical molecular imaging of cancer and other diseases. These agents consist of peptides and proteins that are either radiolabeled with radioisotopes for positron emission tomography (PET) or labeled with a near infrared dye for optical imaging or both to delineate tumor margins during surgery.
As an example of the types of research in which we are engaged, we have recently developed an scFv phage displayed library that has delivered high affinity scFvs for cell surface proteins that are up-regulated as function of disease. These scFvs will be formulated into bivalent antibody fragments for pre-clinical PET of cancer and other diseases.
Jeff Smith is a Professor of Radiology at the MU School of Medicine and a Research Professor at the Missouri University Research Reactor. He also holds an appointment as Research Health Scientist at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital. Jeff training in inorganic/organometallic/main group chemistry, and expertise in the design and development of polydentate, water-soluble, complexing agents various radiometals. He also expertise in development of novel, theranostic (diagnosis and therapy), disease-seeking radiopharmaceuticals animal and human use. This includes isotope processing and purification, tracer level metalation of small molecules and molecular cell-targeting agents, and in vitro and in vivo diagnostic/therapeutic probe development. Currently, his interest is in the design and development of radiolabeled heterodimers targeting the gastrin releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) and prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) diagnosis or therapy of human breast and prostate cancers.