Molecular Imaging for the Improved Visualization and Treatment of Cancer
Jason Lewis, PhD
Emily Tow Jackson Chair in Oncology
Vice Chair for Research, Department of Radiology
Chief, Radiochemistry and Imaging Sciences Service
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Hosted by: Katherine Ferrara, Ph.D.
Sponsored by: Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford & the Department of Radiology
ABSTRACT
Molecular imaging (MI) originated from the need to better understand the fundamental molecular pathways inside organisms in a noninvasive manner. Over the past two decades, two factors have acted in concert to fuel the ascent of molecular imaging in both the laboratory and the clinic: First, an increased understanding of the molecular mechanisms of disease and second, the continued development of in vivo imaging technologies, ranging from improved detectors to novel labeling methodologies. The advent of molecular imaging has, in turn, prompted a paradigm shift in medical imaging as a whole, from its foundations in purely anatomical imaging towards techniques aimed at probing tissue phenotype and function. We have for many years exploited aberrant targets associated with cancer in order to better diagnose, stage, monitor and treat this disease.
The use of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) for cancer imaging is a well-established and widely used molecular imaging modality both in clinical and research settings. Over the last 30 years, our ability to non-invasively diagnose, localize, and treat many forms of cancer has advanced tremendously. Due to their exquisite selectivity and specificity for cancer biomarkers, radiolabeled antibodies have played an important and growing role in this trend. Within the last half-decade, antibodies have emerged as enticing tools for the PET imaging of cancer and endoradiotherapy and will be the focus of this presentation.
ABOUT DR. LEWIS
Professor Jason S. Lewis is the Emily Tow Jackson Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He is the Chief Attending of the Radiochemistry & Imaging Sciences Service and serves as the Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Radiology. He holds a joint appointment in the Molecular Pharmacology Program, and he is the Director of the Radiochemistry & Molecular Imaging Probe Core in the Sloan-Kettering Institute. He also holds appointments at the Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School, New York, NY and the Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image Guided Therapy, The Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
Professor Lewis has served as the 2015 President of the World Molecular Imaging Society and is the President-Elect of the Society for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences. In 2014 he received a Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy of Radiology Research and he was named a WMIS Fellow in 2015. In 2017 he was elected a Member of the International Society for Strategic Studies in Radiology and was awarded the SNMMI Michael J. Welch Award. In 2019 he was named a Fellow of the Society of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging and was awarded the SNMMI Paul C. Aebersold Award. In 2019 Professor Lewis was awarded an NCI Outstanding Investigator Award (R35). In 2020 he was awarded the ACS Bioconjugate Chemistry Lectureship Award and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2021 he was awarded the gold Medal from the World Molecular Imaging Society
Lewis’ research program is a molecular imaging-based program focused on radiopharmaceutical development as well as the study of multimodality (PET, CT & MRI) small- and biomolecule-based agents and their clinical translation. He has published >300 papers and reviews in the field of radiochemistry and molecular imaging.