Michael Rod Zalutsky

About

Michael Rod Zalutsky is a distinguished professor whose laboratory focuses on the development of novel radioactive compounds to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment. His work primarily involves radiohalogenation of biomolecules through site-specific approaches, often utilizing demetallation reactions. He employs radionuclides such as I-123, I-124, and F-18 for imaging purposes, with particular interest in F-18 for quantifying biochemical and physiological processes via positron emission tomography. For therapeutic applications, he works with astatine-211, which emits alpha-particles that are highly cytotoxic and have a very short range, enabling extremely focal irradiation of malignant cells while sparing neighboring healthy tissue. His recent contributions include developing reagents for protein and peptide radioiodination that significantly reduce deiodination in vivo, demonstrating the efficacy of At-211 labeled monoclonal antibodies in treating rat models of neoplastic meningitis, synthesizing thymidine analogues labeled with At-211 that are incorporated into cellular DNA with high cytotoxicity, and creating radiohalobenzylguanidines specifically cytotoxic to human neuroblastoma cells. His research aims to advance targeted radiopharmaceuticals for cancer therapy, emphasizing precision and efficacy in treatment modalities.

Research topics

• Biochemistry
• Biology
• Genetics
• Cancer research
• Natural resource economics
• Biochemical engineering
• Business
• Economics
• Chemistry
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Production, purification and availability of 211At: Near term steps towards global access

  Nuclear Medicine and Biology · 2021 · 97 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• A third generation PSMA-targeted agent [211At]YF2: Synthesis and in vivo evaluation

  Nuclear Medicine and Biology · 2024-05-01 · 15 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• PSMA-reactive NB7 single domain antibody fragment: A potential scaffold for developing prostate cancer theranostics

  Nuclear Medicine and Biology · 2024-04-25 · 9 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Fluorine-18 Labeling of the MDM2 Inhibitor RG7388 for PET Imaging: Chemistry and Preliminary Evaluation

  Molecular Pharmaceutics · 2021 · 6 citations

  F-labeled compound to make it more amenable for PET imaging of MDM2 in vivo.

  DOI

• Structural analysis of nanobody interactions with their prostate-specific membrane antigen binding epitopes

  International Journal of Biological Macromolecules · 2025-07-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), overexpressed in prostate cancer, is a promising target for diagnostics and therapy. However, the monoclonal antibodies in current use for PSMA targeting and inhibition have suboptimal activities due to their poor tissue and cell penetration and slow normal tissue clearance. Potentially superior alternatives are nanobodies (NBs), the single-chain variable domains of heavy-chain antibodies derived from camelids. The advantages of NBs include small size (…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Astatine And Iodine Radiolabeled Monoclonal Antibodies

  NIH · $8.1M · 1985–2021

• Small Molecule PSMA-Targeted Alpha Therapy

  NIH · $3.6M · 2014–2026

• NIH Grant P01CA154291

  NIH · $20.4M · 2017

Frequent coauthors

• Ganesan Vaidyanathan

  Duke University Hospital

  414 shared

• Darell D. Bigner

  Duke University

  295 shared

• Roger E. McLendon

  Duke University

  155 shared

• Henry S. Friedman

  Duke Medical Center

  153 shared

• Gamal Akabani

  Texas A&M University

  133 shared

• Donna J. Affleck

  Duke University

  106 shared

• James E. Herndon

  Duke University

  99 shared

• David A. Reardon

  Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

  91 shared

Labs

• Michael Zalutsky LaboratoryPI

Education

• BA, Chemistry

  Clark University

• PhD, Chemistry

  washington university

Awards & honors

• Aebersold Award. Society of Nuclear Medicine. 2007
• MERIT Award. National Institutes of Health. 2005

Similar researchers at Duke University

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• Matthew L Beckerh-60
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