- Director: Andrew Taylor, MD
The Laboratory is a dual focus Department of Radiology research facility located on the first floor of the Woodruff Memorial Building. The radioligand component of the laboratory began in 1984 at the University of Utah and led to the introduction of technetium-99m mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3), the most widely used renal imaging radiophamaceutical in the US. The laboratory transferred to Emory in 1986 and for many years, the research focus continued to be the development of technetium-99m renal tubular radiopharmaceuticals. This focus has recently expanded to include other radioligands including a radioligand to target pancreatic cancer.
The expert system component derived from clinical studies with MAG3. We developed specific software for processing MAG3 renal scans (QuantEMTM) to measure the MAG3 clearance and other quantitative parameters important in scan interpretation. This software was licensed by Emory University to ELGEMS (GE Healthcare) in the early 1990s. Subsequently, we have developed a much more sophisticated version of QuantEM (QuantEM 2.0) to automatically extract clinically relevant parameters and forward them to an expert system (RENEX) for analysis. RENEX provides an automated scan interpretation for patients referred for suspected obstructed and is currently under development. Details of RENEX are provided on our website: http://www.med.emory.edu/decisionsupportsystems/
Our mission is radioligand and expert system development to enhance clinical care.
There are 642 square feet of laboratory research space for synthetic chemistry and radiolabeling including two six-foot fume hoods and one three-foot fume hood. An additional 320 square feet of space are available for animal research. For computing, we have access to the Medical Imaging Research Center which consists of 600 sq. ft. of space on the first floor of the Woodruff Memorial Research Building adjacent to our laboratories.
Taylor A, Garcia EV, Binongo JNG, Manatunga A, Halkar R, Folks RD, Dubovsky EV. Diagnostic performance of an expert system for interpretation of Tc-99m MAG3 scans in suspected renal obstruction. J Nucl Med 2008;49:216-224.
Development of 99mTc Renal Tubular Agents
PI: Andrew T. Taylor, MD
Co-Investigator: Malgorzata Lipowska, PhD
Funding Agency: National Institute of Health grant R01 DK-38842, January 1, 2005-December 31, 2008
Purpose: The major goal is to develop new anionic and cationic Tc-99m renal tracers to provide a measurement of effective renal plasma flow equivalent to or superior to the ERPF measurement provided by para-aminohippurate (PAH).
Decision Support Systems for MAG3 Renography
PI: Andrew Taylor, MD
Co-Investigators: Ernest Garcia, PhD and Amita Manatunga, PhD
This project was previously funded by the National Library of Medicine, RO1 LM007595 from July 1, 2002 through July 31, 2006. A renewal is currently under review. In this renewal, we propose to complete the development of a comprehensive decision support system that will automatically process MAG3 renal scans, identify and correct quality control problems, and incorporate clinical data to interpret MAG3 renal scans in regard to normality, function, obstruction and renovascular hypertension as well as expert nuclear medicine physicians.
Andrew Taylor, MD
Malgorzata Lipowska, PhD
Radioligand Development:
Luigi Marzilli, PhD, Professor of Chemistry, Louisiana State University
Expert System Development:
Ernest Garcia, PhD, Co-Investigator and Professor, Department of Radiology
Amita Manatunga, PhD, Co-Investigator, Professor, Department of Biostatistics
Russell Folks, BS, CNMT, Senior Research Associate, Department of Radiology
Eva Dubovsky, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiology, University of Alabama
Raghuveer Halkar, MD, Associate Professor of Radiology
Jose Binongo, PhD, Assistant Professor, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
Jieqiong Bao, PhD, Department of Biostatistics
Nettie Sutton
E-mail: nsutton@emory.edu