Zalutsky, who is also director of the radiolabeling shared resource and co-program leader of the cancer immunobiology program in the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a recipient of a MERIT Award from the National Cancer Institute for his research in targeted radiotherapy. His primary research interests are the development of molecularly targeted radiodiagnostics and radiotherapeutics for oncologic applications. A long-term focus of his laboratory has been on the development of targeted radiopharmaceuticals labeled with the alpha-particle emitting radionuclide astatine-211. This work includes basic radiochemistry, evaluation of therapeutic efficacy, microdosimetry and initiation of the first clinical trial with an astatine-211 labeled, targeted radiotherapeutic. His research has been supported by a grant from Genentech as well as multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy.
Zalutsky and his colleagues were commended for their research, "Cytotoxicity of Astatine-211-Labeled Trastuzumab in Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines: Effects of Specific Activity and HER2 Receptor Heterogeneity." "It's quite an honor to be named the recipient of the Berson-Yalow Award," said Zalutsky. "Researchers are still using the basic principles developed by Berson and Yalow every day. My work is part of an interdisciplinary collaboration, and all of us are trying to apply the concepts developed by Berson and Yalow to optimize the
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Contact: Maryann Verrillo
mverrillo@snm.org
703-708-9000
Society of Nuclear Medicine
21-Jun-2005