Evening Lecture – Belgian expertise and creativity in nuclear medicine
Belgium is at the forefront of medical applications of ionizing radiation. Pioneering discoveries and developments have put our country in the unique worldwide position that the entire value chain required for nuclear medicine, that is from target irradiation to (pre)clinical research and practice, is present and of the highest standards.
After an introduction of Rad4Med.be, the Belgian Network for Radiation Applications in Healthcare, by Frank Deconinck, two ground-breaking, challenging projects will be presented: the “Brussels RadioTheranostics Platform” by Zéna Wimana and the “Total Body Pet project” by Chris Vanhove.
The “Brussels RadioTheranostics Platform” addresses the development of a wide range of innovative radiotheranostics and their translation into the clinic. The focus will be given on both alpha and beta-emitting cancer drugs as well as on fundamental and applied aspects of radiobiology.
The “Total Body Pet project” addresses a total-body scanner, where the entire patient body is surrounded with solid-state detectors. For the same dose that is currently given, a much larger signal is collected. This enables to either drastically reduce the examination time, to perform dynamic studies or to reduce the dose by a factor of 40.
Speakers
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Chris VanhoveAssociate Professor at Ghent University
Chris Vanhove obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He was one of the initiators of the In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging (ICMI) lab of the VUB in 2005. Since 2011, he is associate professor at Ghent University where he is responsible for the small animal imaging core facility.
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Frank DeconinckProfessor Emeritus at VUB
Frank Deconinck obtained his PhD in Medical Physics from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He was research associate at the University of California (UCSF) and research collaborator at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He is professor emeritus at VUB, president of the Belgian Hadron Therapy Consortium and coordinator of Rad4Med.be.
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Zéna WimanaCoordinator Radiopharmacy at Jules Bordet Institute
Zéna Wimana obtained her PhD in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical sciences from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). She became the coordinator of the radiopharmacy of the Jules Bordet Institute and contributed to the introduction of several radiopharmaceuticals in the clinic as premier in Belgium (e.g., Lu-177-DOTATATE, Ga-68-PSMA). She is currently also a board member in different scientific and professional associations, including the Belgian Nuclear Medicine Society.