Funding News - Applications for Development of PET and SPECT Ligands for Brain Imaging Studies Sought

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) request research grant applications for the development of novel radioligands for positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging in the brain.*

Tremendous opportunities exist for using PET and SPECT imaging in studies of the pathophysiology and treatment of brain disorders, but relatively few radioligands are currently available for functional imaging of target molecules implicated in normal brain function, aging, and brain and behavioral disorders.

Potential areas of research interest include: lead compound identification/development and syntheses of chemicals with suitable binding affinity, biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, and physio-chemical properties allowing radiochemical synthesis; pre-clinical studies to screen out compounds that are unlikely to be promising candidates for PET or SPECT imaging; radiolabeling procedures; in vitro and ex vivo autoradiography; in vivo imaging including micro PET (rodent and/or primate); studies of pharmacological specificity, biodistribution, and pharmacokinetics; model development for quantitation, including development and evaluation of pharmacokinetic models and use of animal models of gradient of binding sites/enzymes to assess sensitivity to changes; determination of toxicology/pathology (FDA approved) for submission of a Radioactive Drug Research Committee (RDRC) or Investigational New Drug (IND) application; IND application development and submission to the FDA prior to pilot human studies; pilot human imaging studies with normal controls, pharmacological challenges with analyses of radiometabolites under the auspices of IRB approval (i.e., RDRC or IND development and submission); and clinical studies in patient/disease populations or experimental manipulations.

For more information, potential applicants should contact Dr. Emmeline Edwards, Program Director, Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience Cluster, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2109, Bethesda, MD 20892; telephone: 301-496-9964; fax: 301-402-2060; e-mail: ee48r@nih.gov.

*For a more detailed description of this program announcement, please visit the NIH web site at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-03-112.html.