La Trobe-ONJCRI
The La Trobe-ONJCRI node is located at La Trobe University’s Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI). ONJCRI is at the frontier of cancer medicine discovery and clinical trials, providing patients with access to experimental and breakthrough treatments including immunotherapies, targeted therapies and personalised medicine.
The La Trobe-ONJCRI node supports national collaboration of researchers in university and medical research institutes with integrated molecular imaging programs that extend from laboratory research, including biology, chemistry, biotechnology, through to novel probe radiochemistry and validation in animal imaging (PET and MRI) prior to human trials. The validation of PET probes developed in the cyclotron and radiochemistry facilities on this campus has led to the initiation of over 20 first-in-human and later stage clinical trials in multiple sites in Melbourne, as well as Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide collaborative sites.
Power Capabilities
Preclinical imaging cameras include a nanoSPECT/CT (Mediso), a nanoPET/1T MRI (Mediso) (2022 upgrade to a 3T PET/MRI) and an IVIS camera (PerkinElmer). Researchers have access to excellent radiochemistry facilities for development of radiolabelled probes; ranging from small molecules, peptides, proteins, lipids to antibodies. Staffed with a senior research assistant and a senior post-doc researcher (NIF Fellow), visiting scientists can receive help with study design, experimental work and data analysis on a cost-recovery basis.
Together, the La Trobe-ONJCRI node offers state-of the art facilities to the research community that is internationally competitive environment for preclinical and clinical molecular imaging research.
The Team
