Nuclear Medicine, the chemistry-physics-biology combo

Nuclear medicine is a specialised area of medical sciences that uses small amounts of radioactive materials, known as radiotracers or radiopharmaceuticals, to study organ function in a living subject or to treat different human diseases. It combines several disciplines, including chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science and biology. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is one of the imaging techniques included within the remit of nuclear medicine. PET imaging relies on the use of radiotracers labelled with positron emitters and the detection of gamma rays by PET detectors, which have three main building blocks: (1) array of scintillation crystals; (2) photomultiplier tubes or avalanche phot diodes; and (3) electronic circuits. The chemistry of PET (i.e. radiotracers) needs to be allied to the physics of PET (i.e. detection of gamma rays), in order to provide information on the biological process under investigation (i.e. organ function). The PET signal measured in different organs can then be computationally modelled by applying different kinetic paradigms. Dr Tavares’ lab has been focusing on developing new PET radiotracers and new methods for analysis of PET data over the past few years. She has also worked on computer simulation studies aiming to characterise the biological effects of ionising radiation, which is important for radionuclide therapy. This lecture will cover the background to nuclear medicine with particular focus on PET kinetic models and radiobiology simulations.