SNMMI funds PET research for infection imaging

SNMMI has awarded more than $500,000 through its 2026 Drs. Jane & Abass Alavi Mars Shot Research Awards for infection and inflammation imaging research.

The 5 funded projects cover diabetic foot osteomyelitis, rheumatoid arthritis, giant cell arteritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and prosthetic joint infections.

Gad Abikhzer, DEC, MDCM, FRCPC, of McGill University, received $110,000 for a prospective multicenter study of 18F-FDG PET/CT in diabetic foot osteomyelitis. The project will assess diagnostic performance and possible prognostic value using standardized acquisition protocols and interpretation criteria.

Lorenzo Nardo, MD, PhD, of the University of California Davis, received $110,000 for research on zirconium-89 certolizumab PET imaging in rheumatoid arthritis. SNMMI said the work will focus on in vivo assessment of TNFα upregulation.

Koenraad Van Laere, MD, PhD, DSc, and Lennert Boeckxstaens, MD, of KU Leuven received $110,000 for ultra-high-resolution FAPI and FDG PET imaging in giant cell arteritis. The project will study FDG and FAPI uptake in the ophthalmic artery using whole-body PET/CT.

Nerissa Viola, PhD, of Wayne State University, received $100,000 for a comparative imaging study of 18F-FDG and an IL23-targeted PET agent in chronic inflammatory bowel disease. The research will compare uptake of a zirconium-89-labeled IL23p40 tracer against FDG in chronic inflammation models.

David Wilson, MD, PhD, of the University of California San Francisco, received $100,000 for work on the 18F-NAM PET radiotracer for prosthetic joint infections. SNMMI said the project will support studies needed to translate 18F-NAM into patients with suspected prosthetic joint infections.

“This year’s Alavi Mars Shot Research Awards reflect the extraordinary breadth and real-world urgency of prompt nuclear medicine imaging of infection and inflammation,” said Richard Wahl, MD, chair of the Mars Shot Fund.

SNMMI established the Mars Shot Research Fund in 2023. The society says the fund is intended to support translational nuclear medicine imaging, radiopharmaceutical therapy, and data science research.