Molecular imaging in the brain
Fine Chemicals Group:
PET in Neurology: Clinical Research and Drug Development
Belgrave Square, London, 8 November
 Dates for your diary
The ability to observe drug action in vivo on a
molecular level has long been a desire of
the pharmaceutical industry. Positron emission
tomography (PET) has allowed the
advancement of molecular imaging to an
extent to which it can be used in quantitative
investigation of a vast range of biological
processes leading to efficiencies in the drug
development process.
Design of appropriate PET ligands, including
isotopically-labelled versions of drugs
themselves, through the increasingly
sophisticated chemistry needed for the
introduction of the short-lived PET isotopes 11C
(half-life 20 minutes) and 18F (110 minutes), has
opened up the technique for use in mechanistic
understanding of drugs in early development.
PET also has an increasingly important role
in non-invasive diagnostic imaging.
Neurodegenerative disorders such as
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are particularly suitable for this technique. In addition PET can be used to shed light on the complexity of neural networks and neurotransmitter activity within both healthy and diseased brains.
The one-day symposium ‘PET in Neurology’ brings together an international line-up of speakers presenting a wide range of the possibilities offered by PET radiochemistry from the design of suitable PET ligands through applications in medical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, receptor imaging and its application in drug development programmes.
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