Jamey Weichert, PhD

Professor Weichert’s lab is focused on the discovery and development of diapeutic agents, which are conceptualized via a biochemical approach whereby compounds known to be stored or synthesized by the organ or tissue of interest, including tumors, serve as the molecular delivery platform for the imaging or therapeutic moiety. A founding aim of his lab is to discover new tumor-targeted computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical, and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agents as well as targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) anticancer agents, and evaluate them preclinically prior to translating promising agents to clinical evaluation and commercialization. NM404 (CLR1404), an alkyphosphocholine (APC) mimetic agent has been evaluated in over 12 clinical PET imaging and molecular radiotherapy trials involving a wide variety of solid and heme malignancies. Recently we expanded the utility of our pan-cancer APC agents to include metal chelates which have better pharmacokinetic properties, are more efficacious, and better tolerated. Particularly relevent to this SPORE application, we have recently discovered that selective TRT delivery of relatively low immunostimulatory radiation doses to tumors can result in curative responses. Preclinical TRT/immunotherapy combination studies have afforded complete regression of established tumors in a majority of treated mice accompanied by tumor-specific T-cell immune memory induction. He currently serve as the faculty director of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center Small Animal Imaging and Radiotherapy Facility. He has over three decades of TRT discovery and development and small animal imaging and radiotherapy experience and am currently serving as the co-PI of a Biden Moonshot U01 and a new NCI P01 grant with Zach Morris both of which are focused on various aspects of the impact of TRT radiation on immunobiology within the tumor microenvironment. He currently serves as a Co-Leader on Project 1 in the current Wisconsin Head and Neck Cancer SPORE, and look forward to continued leadership on the SPORE renewal project (now Project 1), which combines TRT with immontherapy ion head and neck cancers.