PET Research Facility

 

CBI's PET facility is located on the ground floor of the MRI Building.  It houses a GE PETtrace 10 Cyclotron, a GE 64-slice PET/CT Discovery VCT Scanner, and a Concorde MicroPET Scanner operated by a Nuclear Medicine registered technologist.

GE PETtrace 10 Cyclotron  

The GE PETtrace Radiotracer Production System is a compact, automated cyclotron and radiochemistry system designed for the fast, easy, and efficient production of PET radiotracers.  The PETtrace System is centered on a compact negative ion cyclotron of proven design.  The PETtrace Cyclotron features a vertical mid-plane and can accelerate protons to 16.5 MeV and deuterons to 8.4 MeV of energy.  The system can be configured with various targets/process systems for production of common PET radioisotopes.  The high performance, flexible design is ideal for applications in a research setting.

The PET isotopes, which can be produced by the PETtrace System, including oxygen-15, nitrogen-13, carbon-11, and fluorine-18, are automatically transferred to the radiochemistry processing systems for efficient conversion into finished radiotracers or precursors for use in preparing other labeled molecules.

 

 

GE 64-slice PET/CT Discovery VCT Scanner

 

The PET/CT scanner has 24 detector rings that provide 47 contiguous image planes over a 15.7 cm field of view. Transverse and axial special resolution of this scanner is 3.27 mm at the center of the gantry. Data acquisition modes include static, dynamic, whole body, and gated. The room is equipped with anesthesia gases and exhaust for scavenging the gases. There is a dedicated viewing area to interpret scans and a data analysis room. There are 3 SUN Ultra 60’s and 4 Sun SPARC 20’s computers with a 144GB DDS-3 tape drive system. Software includes Matlab (Mathworks, Inc) and IDL (Research Systems, Inc.).

Dedicated research scanner for scanning Human Clinical Research subjects as well as non-human primate imaging. The spatial resolution is 3.27 mm.

High-sensitivity, uniform spatial resolution across the whole field of view. Laser alignment system for accurate positioning. Advanced detector technology - BGO crystals for high sensitivity and photo-fraction. 30 mm deep individually-cut crystals for efficient light detection. Large detector ring produces uniform resolution important for whole-body imaging, especially for lymph nodes under the arm and where skin lesions can be on distant parts of the body. Thick, long-bore collimators and end shield caps reduce scatter and random events. Excellent electronics provide high band width and very high count rate capability with low dead time. Large display panel for easy monitoring with bilaterally placed control panels for easy access. Fast movement with simultaneous up/in or down/out with convenient foot pedals for up/down. Accommodates patients up to 450 lbs with easy loading at 20 in (52 cm) wheelchair height. 70 cm bore.

 

Concorde MicroPET Scanner

                                                                                                                  Dedicated animal scanner with a spatial resolution of 2.0mm. It is presently used for rodents and non-human primates.

 

Laboratories

Organic chemistry laboratory (860 sq ft): three fume hoods, two rotary evaporators, one Perkin Elmer series 1600 FT-IR for characterization of synthesized compounds, a high-range vacuum pump, several (more than five) HPLC systems attached with radioisotope and UV detectors for radiochemical synthesis, Varian GLC (TC and radiation detectors), and TLC scanner.

A second organic chemistry laboratory (478 sq. ft.): three chemical fume hoods, a rotary evaporator, two high-vacuum pumps, and several routine laboratory instrumentation to perform chemical synthesis.

Metabolite analysis lab: Varian Analytical HPLC (attached with UV and radioisotope detectors) for metabolite analysis, three micro-centrifuges, a rotary evaporator, and a Packard Cobra II auto-gamma counter.

Radiochemistry laboratory (1,350 sq. ft.): Two Capintech Hot Cell, GE [11C]methyl iodide synthesis box, four mini-cells, and four shielded fume hoods for radiochemistry.

In an area remote from the hot cells and shielded fume is a laboratory containing three fume hoods, a shielded rotary evaporator, a rotary chromatatron, and a laminar flow hood. Two additional Hot Cells were installed in 2005.

While this facility explores a wide array of research questions, it currently emphasizes the area of neurosciences, with a long, grant-funded history in the area of substance abuse.