Typologie d'actualités: Group Metal complexes and MRI

2024 edition of “The Future of Molecular MR” international conference

The "Metal complexes and MRI" group of CBM is organizing the 2024 edition of "The Future of Molecular MR" meeting in Orléans which will gather 120 participants from over the world.

The objectives of this international conference are to establish current state of the art in molecular MR and pinpoint knowledge gaps, to identify adjacent technologies that can be combined with molecular MRI to create more accurate, ensitive, rapid and quantitative methods, and to bring leaders from different fields to challenge orthodoxy and identify new opportunities in molecular MR.

The meeting will take place in Hotel Dupanloup, Orléans, 17-20 June 2024.

Congress website

 

 

Breast cancer: towards early diagnosis by imaging

In vivo imaging of metastatic breast cancer tumors at very early stages is about to become possible. A team of chemists and biologists from the Center for Molecular Biophysics (CNRS) has indeed developed a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) probe which has a selective affinity for an emerging biomarker of metastatic breast cancer: Netrin- 1. Find out more on the Cnrs Chimie website.

See more and Cnrs Chmie website.

Reference
Peptide-Conjugated MRI Probe Targeted to Netrin-1, a Novel Metastatic Breast Cancer Biomarker
Clémentine Moreau, Tea Lukačević, Agnès Pallier, Julien Sobilo, Samia Aci-Sèche, Norbert Garnier, Sandra Même, Éva Tóth & Sara Lacerda
Bioconjugate Chemistry 2024
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.3c00558

Enzymatic detection in near infrared optical imaging and MRI with a single ligand complexed to different lanthanide ions

The imaging visualization of active enzymes is of primary importance in biology.

In a collaborative effort between the Centre of Molecular Biophysics (CBM) and the Institute of Chemistry of Natural Substances (ICSN) in Gif sur Yvette, CBM researchers have designed Ln3+ complexes that provide enzyme-mediated changes in NIR luminescence, as well as in Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) and classical T1-weighted MRI, depending on the Ln3+ used. They have demonstrated the successful monitoring of b-galactosidase activity over time in NIR luminescence and CEST MR imaging in phantoms containing the Yb-complex, and in T1 MRI when using the Gd-analogue. A further great advantage of their probe design is its high versatility, as there are a large number of enzymatically cleavable groups that could be attached to the same core, thus creating probes for other important enzyme targets.

Reference : Rémy Jouclas, Sophie Laine, Svetlana V. Eliseeva, Jérémie Mandel, Frédéric Szeremeta, Pascal Retailleau, Jiefang He, Jean-Francois Gallard, Agnès Pallier, Célia S. Bonnet, Stéphane Petoud, Philippe Durand, Éva Tóth
Lanthanide-Based Probes for Imaging Detection of Enzyme Activities by NIR Luminescence, T1- and ParaCEST MRI
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202317728

Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships

Rafael Aroso, from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, will join the “Metal Complexes and MRI” team. Its “PorphIRON” project aims to develop paramagnetic complexes based on transition metals, such as iron, for MRI applications. This work is part of the team's efforts to replace gadolinium, currently used in MRI, with more biocompatible and ecologically more sustainable metals.

Ross Ballantine, from Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland, will join the "Synthetic Proteins and Bioorthogonal Chemistry" team to work on the « ThioSHowcase » project. This project aims to explore arylthiol-based amino acids for the chemoselective functionalisation of peptides and of proteins,  with applications in protein labeling and selective peptide cross-linking.