Neeta Pandit-Taskar, MD

I provide clinical care in all aspects of radiopharmaceutical imaging (PET/CT, PET/MR, SPECT/CT, nuclear cardiology) and radionuclide therapy, and also conduct research involving the development of novel methods for diagnosis and treating cancers using radiolabeled agents. Over the years my work, both clinical and research, has increasingly focused on therapeutic applications, including theranostics – which is the combination of therapies and diagnostics – and treatment response assessment, with large and small radiolabeled molecular targeting agents.   

My research involves radioimmunotargted agents, small molecules and peptides, alpha emitters, and the use of novel PET tracers and techniques like PET/CT and PET/MR for early assessment of disease status and response. As the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) RO1 grant from the National Cancer Institute, I am investigating new imaging techniques to detect and monitor neuroblastoma in children with PET/MR. The goal is to reduce radiation exposure and provide a rapid single-day imaging assessment to monitor disease and therapy response. I am also co-leading studies in theranostics in pediatric malignancies such as neuroblastoma, brain tumors, and other tumors including desmoplastic small round cell tumors.

My focus is on developing novel theranostic strategies with radiopharmaceuticals. I am studying the use of radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies to detect and treat cancers. My early research focused on the optimization of biodistribution and understanding the kinetics of radioimmunotargeted agents in variety of cancers. These include: Radiolabeled antibodies 8H9 and 3F8 for pediatric cancers such as metastatic neuroblastoma and brain tumors, and radioimmunoPET imaging and radioimmunotherapy for renal cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, lymphoma, and colon cancer. 

More recently, I have extended this work to utilize and optimize smaller molecules, ligands, and peptides for diagnoses and treatment. I have also looked at the use of alpha-emitter-conjugated radiolabeled antibodies in the treatment of malignancies. I am studying methods to improve the delivery of radiation to the tumors using image assessment and dose estimations to provide personalized therapy. Using novel hybrid PET/MR imaging, I am studying novel tracers to better diagnose and monitor treatment effect, which can also help guide management and therapy planning in the future. This will allow for lower radiation exposures when imaging pediatric patients.

I routinely perform radiopharmaceutical therapy with ¹³¹I-MIBG for neuroendocrine tumors including neuroblastoma, pheochromocytoma, and paraganglioma; bexxar and zevalin therapy for lymphoma; and Radium-di-chloride (xofigo) or samarium radionuclides to treat metastatic bone disease pain. I also perform microsphere therapy for liver metastasis (SIRT) with 90 Y sirspheres/theraspheres.