Spotlight on Prof. Bart Cornelissen, PhD – CRUK Center at the University of Oxford

Prof. Bart Cornelissen is Group Leader of the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Center, based at the Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology. In this interview, we talk about his research on the development of radiolabelled compounds for molecular imaging of the tumor microenvironment and DNA damage repair, and the radiobiology of radionuclide therapy of cancer in which he uses many unique capabilities of the MILabs VECTor/CT scanner.

For the full interview with Prof. Cornelissen, please click here.

As documented in Drug Delivery, 2020, Vol. 27 by A. Molotkov et al, published by the Columbia University PET Center, New York: “Recent innovations by MILabs’ in-line Optical and CT imaging illustrate the broad potential of using 3D OI/CT as an accessible preclinical tool to develop therapies, by using information obtained from an in-line CT scanner for the reconstruction of 3D optical images and the use of NIR labels, 3D Fluorescence Tomography (FLT). After correlating 3D OI/CT the therapeutic distribution of a Cy7-labeled anti-PD-1 antibody with a [⁸⁹Zr] PET anti-PD-1 antibody, we demonstrated that this new optical/CT system is clinically relevant when testing the preclinical efficacy of potential macromolecular therapeutic strategies such as immunotherapy. Importantly, 3D OI/CT can act as an accessible preclinical surrogate for using radiolabeled entities in future clinical testing”. 

As illustrated below, this 3D-Optical/CT system is highly scalable and flexible. It can be used on the bench on a docking station for 2D bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging or as used at Columbia University, in-line with a diagnostic CT system for 3D tomographic bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging.