Education
1985: University of Wisconsin-Superior, BS-Chemistry
1990: Florida State University, PhD-Inorganic Chemistry

Publications

Almutairi A, Rossin R, Shokeen M, et al. Biodegradable dendritic positron emitting nanoprobes for the noninvasive imaging of angiogenesis. Proc Nat Acad Sci U S A. 2009;106:685-690.

Wadas TJ, Eiblmaier M, Zheleznyak A, et al. Preparation and biological evaluation of 64Cu-CB-TE2A-sst2-ANT, a somatostatin antagonist for PET imaging of somatostatin receptor positive tumors. J Nucl Med. 2008;49:1819-1827.

Eiblmaier M, Andrew R, Laforest R, Rogers BE, Anderson CJ. Nuclear uptake and dosimetry of 64Cu-labeled chelator-somatostatin conjugates in a SSTr2-transfected human tumor cell line. J Nucl Med. 2007;48:1390-1396.

Sprague JE, Peng Y, Fiamengo AL, et al. Synthesis, characterization, and in vivo studies of Cu(II)-64-labeled cross-bridged tetraazamacrocycle-amide complexes as models of peptide conjugate imaging agents. J Med Chem. 2007;50:2527-2535.

Sprague JE, Kitaura H, Zou W, et al. Non-invasive imaging of osteoclasts in parathyroid hormone-induced osteolysis using a 64Cu-labeled RGD peptide. J Nucl Med. 2007;48:311-318.

The major focus of this research group is the development, evaluation, and application of radiopharmaceuticals containing metal radionuclides for diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy. Particular interests are ⁶⁴Cu (T_1/2 = 12.7 hours), in large part because it emits β+ particles for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and β- particles for targeted radiotherapy. The agents being studied are ⁶⁴Cu-labeled bifunctional chelator-receptor ligand peptide and monoclonal antibody conjugates for imaging and therapy of various types of cancer.

Somatostatin is a peptide hormone system in which certain tumors have increased concentrations of receptors compared to normal tissues. The researchers are developing new radiolabeled bifunctional-chelate-peptide conjugates of these receptor ligands for PET and radiotherapy. They are investigating how the chelator used to complex ⁶⁴Cu affects biodistribution and cell killing, as well as investigating somatostatin receptor subtype 2 agonists vs antagonists. An aspect of this metabolism research is the understanding of the mechanisms of cell kill of ⁶⁴Cu-radiopharmaceuticals on the subcellar level. They recently determined that the tumor suppressor protein p53 plays a role in delivery of ⁶⁴Cu to the tumor cells nucleus. They are investigating how this affects tumor cell killling in cells that are +/+ and -/- in p53.

Another area of investigation in this laboratory is the development of radiolabeled alpha v beta 3 integrin ligands as PET agents for imagingbone metastasis. The researchers have developed one agent, ⁶⁴Cu-CB-TE2A-c(RGDyK), that specifically binds to alpha v beta 3 integrin in osteoclasts, which are bone resorbing cells that are present in high concentration in osteolytic bone lesions associated with breast cancer, and multiple myeloma. They have also investigated a panel of RGD peptides as imaging agents and are currently evaluating nanoparticle constructs that contain multiple copies of the most optimal peptide sequences. These agents are being evaluated for imaging cancer and cardiovasular disease.