The $100,000 SNMMI / LBCA Invasive Lobular Carcinoma Imaging Research Fellowship for the 2025 Mars Shot Fund was recently awarded to Randy Yeh, MD, a radiologist and nuclear medicine physician at Mount Sinai Health System, associate professor of radiology, and chief of nuclear medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. LBCA hosted a Lobular Breast Cancer chat with Dr. Yeh to learn more about this one-year ILC imaging research grant based on his proposal, “Improving detection and outcomes in patients with metastatic invasive lobular breast cancer through novel FAPI PET imaging.”
During the Q&A, hear from patient advocate Gitte Joergensen who helped him with his grant proposal and will assist him with his study. Plus, Dr. Gary Ulaner, LBCA SAB member and Director, Molecular Imaging and Therapy at Hoag Family Cancer Institute, explains the Mars Shot Research program and how LBCA and SNMMI are once again partnering to fund ILC research focused on imaging.
More about the study
Dr. Yeh and colleagues believe that conducting a PET/CT scan that uses the tracer dye 18F-FAPI which targets a fibroblast activation protein found on the surface of cancer-associated fibroblasts that are abundant in the supportive tissue of ILC tumors—could be a better imaging option to detect ILC than the more commonly used CT or bone scans, or a PET scan that uses the tracer dye 18F-FDG. Yeh’s study will assess and compare FAPI PET vs.FDG PET on detection rates, image clarity, and signal intensity.
LBCA is excited to again partner with SNMMI on an ILC imaging research grant award through the Mars Shot Fund. The Mars Shot Fund was established in 2023 as a forward-looking glimpse into the future of nuclear medicine. It provides resources that translate visionary nuclear medicine imaging, radiopharmaceutical therapy, and data science research or projects into tools or treatments that will help improve the lives of patients.
To read the full release, click here.
