Isotopes and Imaging Final Report

The New Mexico Center for Isotopes and Medicine (NMCIM), in partnership with the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center (CRTC) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory Isotope Production Facility (IPF), recently hosted the “New Mexico Isotopes and Imaging Workshop.” The workshop was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Albuquerque and was attended by 100 of the top isotopes and imaging scientists in the United States, along with medical residents, graduate and PharmD students. A major grant from the New Mexico Consortium’s (NMC) Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) and a gift from GE Healthcare supported the workshop.

The workshop was organized by Dr. Scott Burchiel, director of NMCIM and professor at the UNM College of Pharmacy, and by Dr. Robert Atcher, a scientist at LANL and a UNM-LANL professor in Radiopharmacy. Representatives of Congresswoman Heather Wilson and Stephan Helgesen, a key adviser for Governor Richardson’s office of economic development, also attended the workshop.

The purpose of the work was to bring together collaborators and future partners of NMCIM, including GE Healthcare, Molecular Insights Pharma, Bioscan, Advanced Molecular Imaging/Gamma Medica, Genetech, Pfizer, IBA, Avid Pharma, Cell Cyte and others. Scientists from several University of California campuses that have institute affiliations with LANL (UCSD, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara) and Dr. Henry van Brocklin from UCSF also attended the workshop. Two internationally renowned scientists, Dr. Bill Eckelman (UCSD Dept of Radiology) and Dr. Michael Welch (Washington University St Louis) gave keynote addresses.

Two consensus issues emerged from the workshop:

1. There are many new opportunities to develop novel radiopharmaceuticals and cancer therapeutics. There needs to be renewed investment in the development of medically useful radiotracers for imaging and therapeutic applications.
2. In the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, there is an inadequate pipeline of qualified technicians and professionals to meet future needs for medical isotope production, research, and development. There needs to be a renewed commitment to the training of workers, scientists, and clinicians in the area of medical isotopes production and Research and development leading to new nuclear imaging and therapeutic agents.

The full report is available here