The radiopharmaceutical research group at MURR focuses on development of radioisotopes for use in detecting and treating cancer and other chronic human diseases. 

Through alliances with University of Missouri faculty, government laboratories and private industry, MURR scientists have successfully developed three FDA approved radiopharmaceutical agents: Ceretec™, the first brain imaging agent; TheraSphere^®, a treatment for liver cancer; and Quadramet^®, an agent designed to relieve the excruciating pain associated with metastatic bone cancer. Additionally, MURR produces two variations of lutetium-177 — carrier added and no-carrier-added — used in Lutathera^® and Pluvicto^® to treat neuroendocrine tumors and prostate cancer, respectively.

Current research is investigating the pairing of radioisotopes with targeting molecules to treat various forms of cancer.

Building off more than a half-century of momentum since MURR opened, two MU researchers, Carolyn Anderson and Heather Hennkens, are leading the way to uncover the benefits of a promising new radioisotope known as terbium-161.

With funding from the National Institute of Health and Department of Energy Office of Science, Anderson and Hennkens are researching the right pairing of radioisotope and targeting molecule to maximize the effectiveness of terbium-161.

Hennkens and her team are working on producing the “payload” or radioactive isotope to be delivered to a tumor cell. Anderson and her team are working to find the right targeting molecule for a radiopharmaceutical carrying terbium-161 to successfully bind with its target cancer cell.