Jason S. Lewis, PhD

Jason S. Lewis serves as Vice Chair for Basic Research, Chief Attending Radiochemist, and Director of the Cyclotron Core in Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Department of Radiology. He holds a joint appointment in the Sloan-Kettering Institute Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program and is a faculty member of the Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Dr. Lewis' research interests are focused on the development of new PET radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. His work incorporates ¹⁸F, ¹¹C, and nonstandard nuclide radiopharmaceutical development, with an emphasis on cancer detection and therapy. The Lewis Lab research program is a molecular imaging-based program focused on the targetry of nonstandard nuclides as well as the development of small- and biomolecule-based agents and their clinical translation. The Lewis Lab has worked on the development of small molecules targeting hypoxia, as well as radiolabeled peptides and antibodies targeting the overexpression of receptors and antigens on tumors.

An Interview with Jason Lewis Radiochemist Jason Lewis works to develop new radiopharmaceuticals used in diagnosing and treating cancer.

The pursuit of new PET radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer is the main priority and will require strong collaborations between the lab and fellow scientists. ¹⁸F radiopharmaceuticals remain the workhorse of the PET facilities given the availability of the nuclide and the wealth of exceptional ¹⁸F-based radiopharmaceuticals. The design and development of ¹¹C agents is also important given that they allow us to perform repeat imaging on a relatively short timescale. However, some agents (e.g., peptides and proteins) require longer-lived radionuclides, and thus we must continue with the high-yield production of nonstandard radionuclides on our in-house cyclotron, including a few others, to produce an arsenal of nuclides that can be available depending on the application. To have on-demand access to the nuclides ⁶⁴Cu, ⁸⁶Y, ⁸⁹Zr, ⁷⁶Br, ^94mTc, and ¹²⁴I significantly strengthens any PET research program because of their biological importance as well as the fact that they can all be produced in good to high yields on a small cyclotron. This will also involve the development of automated production systems for the separation and isolation of high-purity radionuclides in order to improve productivity while lowering the absorbed doses to production personnel.