MingQiang Zheng

My focus is on development and translation of PET radiotracers for studying the molecular basis of disease using Positron Emission Tomography or PET in non-human primates and humans. My current research projects include the development of radiotracers for imaging: 1) development of [¹⁸F]Bavarostat for HDAC6 in monkey and human brain; 2) Several C-11 or F-18 labeled PET tracers for NMDA mGlu2B receptor in monkeys and potentially in humans; 3) ¹⁸F-Arag for activate T-cells in monkey and human; 4) ¹⁸F-ROS for detecting superoxide level in brain inflammation; and 5) C-11 and F-18 labeled PET tracer targeting SV2A for mapping synaptic density in human brain. Previous projects include 1) A pair of C-11 and F-18 labeled novel agonist and antagonist PET tracers for kappa opioid receptor; 2) C-11 labeled PET tracer for CB1 receptor in neurodegeneration diseases; 3) C-11 and F-18 labeled PET tracers for glycine transporter 1; 4) F-18 labeled PET tracer for imaging the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in non-human primates; 5) F-18 labeled nanoparticles for tracking drug delivery and tumor therapy; 6) C-11 and F-18 labeled PET tracers for beta amyloid and Tau imaging in AD subjects; 7) F-18 labeled PET tracer for non-small cell lung cancer imaging. And other production tracers used in pre-clinical and clinical research at Yale PET center.

My second focus is to oversee the metabolite analysis lab, to generate high quality metabolite data of novel PET tracers for input function used in brain modeling and modeling for cardiology and cancer imaging.