# Automation Equipment for Human PET Radiotracer Production

> **NIH NIH S10** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2021 · $324,956

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Funding is requested for automation equipment for human PET radiotracer production for use in the new
cGMP production facility of the Institute for Innovation in Imaging (i3). The proposed instrument will be a crucial
component in facilitating clinical research using Ga-68 based molecular probes with immediate applications in
cancer, heart disease, and chronic diseases of the liver and lung. It will also enable the development and
synthesis of novel molecular imaging probes and lower the barrier for their translation to human research.
Finally, it would make Ga-68 readily available to local users on a daily basis. The automation equipment for
PET radiotracer production will serve a large NIH-funded user community encompassing a wide variety of
biomedical disciplines. We currently serve users both within the MGH/Harvard/MIT system as well as from
around the greater Boston/Cambridge region. Ga-68 is an attractive isotope for use in PET imaging because it
is readily available from a generator system (onsite cyclotron or reactor is not required), and the chemistry of
Ga-68 based probes is very straightforward compared with other isotopes.
 The requested equipment would greatly expand our capacity to serve the local NIH-funded user community,
as well as offer an important facility for rapidly expanding the user base with molecular imaging interests. In
particular, the proposed instrument would allow for much more frequent use of existing Ga-68 based probes for
human clinical research. The equipment would also make these and other probes readily available for
preclinical imaging studies. Such studies are often not performed because they would require a dedicated
radiochemist to prepare the probe, but with the requested equipment, these probes could now be purchased.
The equipment would also allow for testing and validating new molecular imaging probes, and for developing
them for human use. The automation equipment will accelerate the current research of 20 NIH-funded
research programs supported by 4 NIH Institutes. Projects requiring the automation equipment for human PET
radiotracer production include the use of PET image for studying (1) thrombosis, (2) pulmonary fibrosis, (3)
cancers (prostate, breast), (4) response to tumor therapies, (5) heart failure, (6) hepatitis, (7) atherosclerosis,
(8) Alzheimer’s disease, (9) neuroscience, and (10) stroke.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10174354
- **Project number:** 1S10OD028499-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Peter D Caravan
- **Activity code:** S10 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $324,956
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10174354

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10174354, Automation Equipment for Human PET Radiotracer Production (1S10OD028499-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10174354. Licensed CC0.

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