Prof. Dr. phil. Melpomeni Fani

«At the division of radiopharmaceutical chemistry, our work is a fascinating journey. Our goal: The identification of a new radiopharmaceutical able to cover an unmet medical need or being a better alternative to the existing ones for the studied disease.»

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Prof. Dr. phil. Melpomeni Fani

Division Head Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry, Clinic of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Basel, DKF research group leader since 2020

Area of Research

Development of targeted

radiopharmaceuticals for

oncological indications in

preclinical and clinical settings

Forschungsprofil

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Three keywords, three answers

Theragnostics

Θεραπεία (= therapy) and διάγνωσης (= diagnosis), two Greek words that shape the relatively new era of medicine, the era of theragnostics and precision medicine. We develop very sensitive and very precise theragnostics using one compound designed to specifically target a cancer type, which is chemically tuned to complex a radioisotope for imaging and, alternatively, a radioisotope for therapy (radio-theragnostics). In other words, with one compound we «see what we treat and treat what we see». Απλό και ακριβές (simple and precise).

From bench to bedside

At the division of radiopharmaceutical chemistry, our work is a fascinating journey starting from the design of a compound aiming to target a disease, to its chemical and radiochemical synthesis, to extensive in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo preclinical studies, and back to the design and optimization, with or without the implementation of pharmacological strategies, until we reach our goal: The identification of a new radiopharmaceutical able to cover an unmet medical need or being a better alternative to the existing ones for the studied disease. We are then able to make the extra mile and develop this new radiopharmaceutical for human use. What a journey! What a team!

In-house production

We produce daily a wide range of radiopharmaceuticals for many different medical indications. By operating a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) facility in-house we are capable of establishing radiopharmaceuticals that are not available elsewhere, thus offering innovative therapies and improved diagnostics to our cancer patients. This includes clinical trials and first-in-man radiopharmaceuticals that time-after-time come out of our research.