BER Scientist Michael R. Zalutsky Named Recipient of Society of Nuclear Medicine’s 2005 Berson-Yalow Award

Summary

TORONTO, Canada – Michael R. Zalutsky, Ph.D., a professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at Duke University, Durham, N.C., is the recipient of the 2005 Society of Nuclear Medicine s (SNM) Berson-Yalow Award. The award was presented during the society’ s 52nd Annual Meeting June 18-22 in Toronto. This honor is given to the investigator who has submitted the most original scientific abstracts and made the most significant contributions to basic or clinical radioassay. Dr. Zalutsky s primary research focus has been on the development of targeted radiopharmaceuticals labeled with the alpha-particle emitting radionuclide astatine-211. This work includes basic radiochemistry, evaluation of therapeutic efficacy, microdosimetry and initiation of the first clinical trial with an astatine-211 labeled, targeted radiotherapeutic. His research has been supported by a grant from Genentech as well as multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy. His DOE-BER grant funds the translation of this basic research into the clinical domain, with the goal of making targeted radiotherapy a practical and effective approach for treating solid tumors. This award commemorates Rosalyn S. Yalow, Ph.D., and the late Solomon A. Berson, M.D., who together in the 1950s developed methods of using radioactive isotopes to investigate physiological systems that allow detection of minute concentrations of biological or pharmacological substances in blood or other fluid samples. This technique is known as radioimmunoassay or RIA. The award was established by SNM in 1977, the same year that Yalow received the Nobel Prize for physiology/medicine.