The main focus of our laboratories lies in the development and optimization of radioactive tracers for molecular imaging and targeted radiotherapy. These tracers are designed to be injected intravenously, to distribute throughout the body with the blood stream and to then selectively bind to specific target molecules on the surface of the target cell (“magic bullet principle”). The respective target molecules are mainly represented by trans-membranous small molecule receptors and specific cell surface antigens. The tracers are labeled with γ-emitting radionuclides for imaging of the target molecule expression (“molecular imaging”). Alternatively, they can be labeled with β-emitting radionuclides for molecular targeted therapy.
Besides the development of new tracers, our laboratories aim to provide the full spectrum of molecular imaging to enable collaborating research groups to follow and measure molecules, cells and physiological processes of interest in-vitro and in-vivo.
