Liu, Ribeiro Pereira Receive Siteman Investment Program Grants

Two projects from WashU Medicine Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) faculty and PET-RTRC investigators were selected to receive research grants through the Siteman Cancer Center Investment Program.

Yongjian Liu, PhD, a professor of radiology and TR&D 2 leader, leads the study “Tumor-Associated Macrophage Modulated Radioimmunotherapy of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.” He aims to develop a targeted radionuclide therapy that delivers radiation directly to immune cells, particularly tumor-associated macrophages such as CD163+ TAMs, using radioactive copper–labeled probes.

Patrícia M. Ribeiro Pereira, PhD, an assistant professor of radiology and TR&D 1 service project leader, spearheads “Predicting Response of HER2-Low Breast Tumors to Trastuzumab-Deruxtecan Through Quantitative Imaging.” She is developing a whole-body imaging approach to determine which patients, particularly those with HER2-low tumors, are most likely to benefit from anti-HER2 antibody-drug conjugates. 

Read more about the projects from MIR.