A Mini-Cyclotron Facility to Support Cancer Research at the BIDMC/HMS

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) is a 566-bed teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School (HMS) with over 114 principal investigators (PIs) engaged in NIH-funded pre-clinical and clinical cancer research. In 2006, the BIDMC was awarded a high-end instrumentation grant (S10-RR-023010; PI: Frangioni, JV) to purchase microPET/CT instrumentation. The BIDMC then invested $1.6M to build a new state-of-the-art infrastructure named the Longwood Small Animal Imaging Facility (www.longwoodsaif.org). The Longwood SAIF is now thriving, and provides animal imaging to PIs at the BIDMC and throughout HMS. Although positron emission tomography (PET) has superior sensitivity and resolution compared to other nuclear medicine tests used for cancer detection, the fundamental limitation of microPET imaging, and more importantly, of clinical PET imaging, is the lack of availability of various F-18 and C-11 labeled radiotracers. Even in Boston, the only PET radiotracers available on a daily basis are 18FDG and Na18F, used for metabolic imaging and bone imaging, respectively. Due to a complex web of economic, intellectual property, and logistical issues, commercial availability of other useful radiotracers is severely limited and is not expected to improve significantly over the next 5 to 10 years. Our investigators are now desperate for various PET radiotracers needed for their pre-clinical and clinical cancer research. Fortunately, a new trend in the production of PET radioisotopes is to utilize a turnkey "mini-cyclotron," in conjunction with an integrated microfluidics chemistry system, to produce "on-demand" radiotracers. Such a "biomarker generator" can be installed in a small room and has minimal operational cost. Although not powerful enough to produce radiotracers on a commercial scale, such 8 MeV mini-cyclotrons can produce enough radiotracer to serve the needs of the entire BIDMC pre-clinical and clinical cancer research communities. Continuing its extraordinary institutional commitment to molecular imaging, the BIDMC has agreed to a major move of existing departments, and will pay for swing space renovation costs, in order to provide 1,400 sq ft of empty space for construction of a mini-cyclotron facility that includes full compliance with USP-797 and radiation regulatory guidelines. Housed next to the Longwood SAIF, and just one level below the division of Nuclear Medicine, this mini-cyclotron facility will be capable of producing PET radiotracers for pre-clinical and clinical cancer research, while requiring minimal operational costs. A LEED-certified architect who has designed much larger, conventional cyclotron facilities for other academic groups has designed our facility. The BIDMC Facilities person most experienced with imaging center construction, and who has previously managed the construction of Dr. Frangioni's present laboratory and the Longwood SAIF, is managing the project. Taken together, the facility we propose leverages prior NCRR funding, creates both temporary and permanent new jobs, and will have a sustained and powerful influence on cancer research at the BIDMC.