Xinrui Ma, a third-year Ph.D. student in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNC, was awarded the Best Poster Presentation at the 2024 Radiology Department Research Symposium. This marks her third consecutive year of recognition\u2014previously earning Best Oral Presentation awards in both 2022 and 2023. Her research has spanned a variety of fields, including cancer imaging, radiopharmaceutical therapy, and neurodegenerative disease imaging.<\/p>\n
Xinrui\u2019s research focuses on developing innovative biorthogonal reactions for theranostic applications, creating disease-specific radiopharmaceuticals for cancer diagnosis and therapy, and characterizing tracer pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics in small animals and non-human primates. The goal of her work is to develop highly sensitive and specific agents for disease detection, such as early Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD) diagnosis, as well as for therapeutic applications.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s award-winning poster featured her work on a novel photoredox-catalyzed deoxyradiofluorination technique for labeling SV2A-target molecules in Alzheimer\u2019s disease imaging. \u201cSynaptic Vesicle Glycoprotein 2 isoform A (SV2A) is a promising marker for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of various brain dysfunctions, including Alzheimer’s,\u201d said Xinrui. \u201cWe\u2019re targeting SV2A with our new tracer to improve AD imaging.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Zibo Lab, where Xinrui conducts her research, a photoredox radiofluorination methodology was developed, enabling the production of PET agents from simple precursors under mild conditions. This approach addresses the challenges associated with developing SV2A-targeting PET agents, which typically require complex synthesis and harsh labeling conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI presented our exciting preclinical imaging findings,\u201d Xinrui explained. \u201cSpecifically, we observed that the newly synthesized tracer, using the photoredox method, delivered very promising results.\u201d Her longitudinal imaging study of AD mice showed significantly lower brain uptake of the tracer in older-phase AD mice compared to younger-phase AD and wild-type mice, suggesting a decrease in SV2A expression as AD progresses. Xinrui plans to conduct further research into the kinetics of the tracer, including how quickly it enters and clears from the brain. She also aims to expand her studies to larger animals, such as monkeys, to better understand tracer distribution across different brain regions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf successful, this new imaging method could significantly improve our ability to monitor AD progression and assess the effects of treatments on synaptic density across a variety of neurodegenerative diseases,\u201d Xinrui said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"