# Center without Walls for Imaging Proteinopathies with PET

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2024 · $6,037,524

## Abstract

OVERALL
ABSTRACT
This grant application was submitted in response to RFA-NS-24-011, “Center without Walls for PET
Ligand Development for ADRDs”. It describes a request for continued support for the Center without
Walls for Imaging Proteinopathies with PET (U19 NS110456), a project that was funded through RFA-
NS-19-014. The competing renewal describes our continued development of Positron Emission
Tomography (PET) ligands for imaging two proteinopathies: 1) alpha synuclein (Asyn) for imaging the
synucleinopathies Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy; and 2) 4R tau for imaging the 4R
tauopathies frontotemporal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy. The Proteinopathy
Imaging Center (short title) consists of a synergistic, collaborative effort between the University of
Pennsylvania (Penn), Washington University-St. Louis (WUSTL), University of Pittsburgh (Pitt),
University of California-San Francisco (UCSF), and Yale University. The organization of the
Proteinopathy Imaging Center is both innovative and unique for the following reasons: 1) it partners
faculty members with an international reputation in the neurobiology (V. Lee, K. Luk, P Kotzbauer) and
structural biology (E.J. Petersson) of the proteinopathies with experts in radiotracer development at Penn
(RH Mach), Pitt (C. Mathis), and WUSTL (Z. Tu) in developing radiotracers for Asyn and 4R tau; 2) it
involves the multi-site collaboration of clinical investigators who are experts in the use of PET to study
CNS disorders (J. Perlmutter, WUSTL; R. Carson, Yale; G. Rabinovici, UCSF; A. Siderowf and I.
Nasrallah, Penn; V. Villemagne;Pitt); and 3) it involves the utilization of state-of-the-art PET imaging
devices for whole body distribution (PennPET Explorer) and high resolution brain studies (NeuroeXplorer,
Yale) of our Asyn and 4R tau radiotracers. The Proteinopathy Imaging Center also consists of a series
of cross-validation studies at both the basic science (i.e., radiotracer characterization) and clinical
research (i.e., consensus diagnosis) levels that can only be accomplished through the U19 funding
mechanism. The PI of the Center is Robert H. Mach, the Britton Chance Professor of Radiology at Penn.
The Center consists of three Cores (Administrative, Medicinal Chemistry and Radiochemistry, Clinical)
and two projects (Asyn, 4R tau). The cores are organized so that there is an overall Core Director or Co-
Director, and a site Director at each site participating in the Core activities. The radiotracers developed
by the Center without Walls for Imaging Proteinopathies with PET are expected to lead to generation
of imaging strategies that are of interest to the scientific mission of the NINDS. They are also expected
to provide novel imaging strategies to advance our knowledge on the role of Asyn and 4R tau in
neurodegenerative disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10940630
- **Project number:** 2U19NS110456-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** ROBERT H MACH
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $6,037,524
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2019-09-24 → 2029-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10940630

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10940630, Center without Walls for Imaging Proteinopathies with PET (2U19NS110456-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10940630. Licensed CC0.

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