discovered_01_2015

discovered 01 .15 RESEARCH WWW.HZDR.DE once.’ When such a ‘bispecific’ antibody makes contact with both cancer cells and immune cells, a targeted immune reaction is triggered against the tumor (see also our article on pages 19 – 21). ‘We hope that this will allow us to fight cancers even better in the future.’ How it all began This research goes all the way back to the GDR-era: At the former Central Institute for Nuclear Research (ZfK), scientists had already been experimenting with their own PET-camera, developing methods to create radionuclides and conducting early radiosyntheses for radiotracers. In the 1980s, they ran some initial studies with lab animals using a tiny experimental camera. At the beginning of the 1990s, a large PET-camera for patient examination was built on the same principle. The camera was, however, decommissioned when the Research Center Rossendorf (FZR), which was founded in 1992, received an experimental PET-system from Montreal, Canada. Even though the POSITOME IIIp-camera was in operation for only two years, it helped implement a 1991-recommendation by the Science Council, which is the German Federal and Länder governments’ advisory committee for science, research and universities: Rossendorf was to be the home of eastern Germany’s first PET Center. Twenty years ago, patients were examined with the help of a glucose-based radiotracer ([F-18] FDG) and the Canadian camera. In May of 1997, a modern Siemens whole-body scanner replaced the experimental system, and 2011 saw the launch of the Philips PET/MRI machine. Until 2005, when the Dresden OncoRay Center was able to buy a PET/CT camera with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the PET Center was Dresden’s sole service provider in the field of PET diagnostics. More than 14,000 patients scanned at HZDR Overall, more than 14,000 patients were examined. At the PET Center Dresden-Rossendorf, HZDR, the University Hospital and TU Dresden cooperated closely and with a clear division of labor: the University Hospital Dresden provided the medical know-how – especially the Clinic and Policlinic for Nuclear Medicine and the Clinic for Radiation Therapy and Radiooncology as well as the Clinic for Radiology. To this day, HZDR provides the necessary radiotracers as well as imaging expertise. At the same time, research is and has been conducted in the fields of radiopharmaceuticals, medical physics and medicine. To pick an example: Within the EU project ‘BioCare’, scientists at HZDR and the Dresden Clinic for Radiation Therapy and Radiooncology studied the impact of the cancer cell’s sugar metabolism on the effectiveness of external radiation therapy. They discovered that tumors that metabolize a lot of glucose are also more sensitive to an increased radiation dose. The sample data from this study demonstrate that biological information, such as the data gained with the help of PET, could be very helpful in creating the personalized cancer therapies of the future. The past 20 years have not only seen numerous patient examinations; research synergies at the joint PET Center Dresden-Rossendorf have also benefited patients. This close cooperation between partners from research and medicine continues today on an even broader basis at OncoRay, the National Center for Radiation Research in Oncology – as well as with Heidelberg colleagues at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT). _Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research at HZDR Prof. Jörg Steinbach / Prof. Michael Bachmann j.steinbach@hzdr.de / m.bachmann@hzdr.de CONTACT MOVING DAY: The components of the PET/MRI machine are safely packed.

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