Development of Radiolabeled PET Tracers for In Vivo Visualization of Phosphodiesterase Type 5 (PDE5) (original) (raw)

The research work would not have been possible without the collaboration between different departments: Department of Imaging and Pathology (KU Leuven) and Nuclear Medicine (UZ Leuven) for production of radiolabeled compounds (from radionuclide production to formulation and quality control), Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (MoSAIC, KU Leuven) for animal experiments, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences (KU Leuven) for providing transgenic mice, pig for PET study, TAC and LAD mice and their expert advice on cardiac hypertrophy, Discovery Sciences (Janssen Pharmaceutica) for determination of in vitro phosphodiesterase inhibitory activity of compounds discussed in this dissertation. I have to extend my acknowledgement and appreciation for aforementioned departments and organizations for their contribution to the success of this research work and the resulting manuscript. We (Nuclear Medicine, UZ Leuven and Radiopharmacy, KU Leuven) are truly two big and happy families. The collaboration is an amazing experience and an example to others. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the members of this big family: Prof. Koen Van Laere (Head of Nuclear Medicine, UZ Leuven), Tjibbe De Groot and Marva Bex you were always willing to help me during radioisotope production despite the hectic situation during working hours. Tjibbe you were always forthright spoken and I like that character of yours! Bert Vanbilloen (thanks for the supervision during my first year in post graduate studies), Stef Verschoren (for the nice after-work hours :), Christelle Terwinghe; Nathalie Devolder; Mireille Heroes; Anja Wilberts; Mieke Steukers; Magdalena Sojka; Kim Serdons, Kim Deliege; Katrien Seré and Annemie Morel: thank you all for the help and nice time. Jan Cleynhens, thank you for your great work and help on the organic synthesis of molecules. Your presence in the lab made a big difference both scientifically and socially and you were the spice of the lab! Sofie thank you for valuable and practical input. Ivan, Julie and Jana: thank you for your technical assistance during animal experiments. Maarten, thank you for your help on microPET image processing and also for the great time we had while on lab trip (Parma, Amsterdam...). Ahamed, thank you for your help on organic synthesis and NMR elucidation. I greatly appreciate for forwarding links to job postings and also for little chitchats we had.