Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (CRS)

The main focus of the radiopharmacy research is the development of radioactively labeled molecules which bind specifically in vivo to defined structures (e.g. receptors or antigens). Such functional radiopharmaceuticals can serve both as diagnostic agents in nuclear medicine and as therapeutic agents for use against tumor metastases.
The Center of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences which is sponsored by the three institutions ETH Zurich, PSI (Research Department Biology and Chemistry) and USZ (University Hospital Zurich) is orientated towards clinical application and is based upon an interdisciplinary approach involving radiopharmaceutical chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, pharmacy and pharmacology.
At PSI with its powerful and high energy cyclotron as well as respective infrastructure, the main focus is on targeted radionuclide therapy starting from concept to proof of principle.
The research focus at the newly commissioned Animal Imaging Center-PET located at the ETH-Hönggerberg, is on molecular imaging with newly developed and established PET tracers using high resolution small animal PET scanners.
At the USZ the main activities are the development of PET tracers for clinical research and the GMP-syntheses of clinically established PET ligands for routine application in nuclear medicine.