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BNMS Research Champions Network

BNMS Research Strategy
Prof Sabina Dizdarevic, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton

Prof Jane Sosabowski is now the BNMS Research Lead and has put together a group of research champions to develop the BNMS Research Strategy - view here

This is a list of research currently of interest to the network and is not exhaustive

List of Research and registry topics

ACTIVE PROJECTS

Project name  Status  Next Steps  Project leads 
Extravasation monitoring  Ongoing at Brighton, presented at BNMS 2025  Plan is to move to Maidstone  Victoria Rowse, Luísa Roldão Pereira 
PET-CT Breast Cancer     Stefan Voo 
Diagnostic value of [18F]FDG PET-CT brain imaging compared with MRI brain in patients with possible early-onset Alzheimer's disease This is a retrospective study of 99 patients scanned locally for neurodegenerative disorders.  Presented at 2026 Spring Meeting - Conclusion: Brain [18F]FDG PET-CT demonstrated substantial incremental diagnostic value over MRI in suspected young-onset AD. [18F]FDG PET-CT frequently identified AD-type pathology in patients whose MRI findings were normal, supporting its role as a key modality in the assessment of early-onset cognitive decline.  Nitasha Singh, Chamani Punchihewa, Sabina Dizdarevic 
The value of [18F]-FDG-PET-CT-brain in the diagnosis of MSA and its subtypes: MSA-P and MSA-C.  Case series  Submitted as an abstract for BNMS spring meeting  Nitasha Singh, Sabina Dizdarevic 
Nuclear Medicine RCR AI registry  Regarding AI registry for NM, Dr Gangoli has not received any funding for this   To add Nuclear med to the RCR' AI registry  Daniel McGowan, Sameer Gangoli 
FDG PET-CT monitoring and predicting treatment response to TKI  Not started  Aim to start 2026  Luísa Roldão Pereira, Jon Wadsley 
MRT research multicentre trials- access to research  NIHR RDN is currently undertaking a system wide review of UK capacity and capability to undertake MRT trials- both academic and commercial. Multistakeholder engagement has occurred with companies, sites and regulatory agencies. It is expected that this work will be completed by the end of February 2026.  The primary output will be a report to RDN Board with recommendations about what needs to happen to facilitate running these studies in the UK, but it is likely that there will be other outputs- eg publication on horizon scanning work looking at what new trials are coming through, and hopefully a directory of centres with an interest in and capability to deliver research.  Jonathan Wadsley 
Combined alpha & beta treatments Combined MRT and non-MRT  Will be presented at the Research Champions meeting    Sabina Dizdarevic 
Assessing the feasibility of using clinical images in PET/CT quality control and long term trend management  The main objectives are: (1) developing a machine learning framework for real-time image quality assessment using standard whole-body FDG PET/CT scans to identify low-quality images and monitor long-term performance trends; (2) investigating the dependence of quality metrics on patient characteristics including BMI, age, gender, and ethnicity across multi-centre datasets; and (3) assessing standardisation of image quality between different scanners and centres to enable robust validation of research developments.  Project will start in Oct for 2 years.  Daniel McGowan + NIHR student 
89Zr-Girentuximab total body PET-CT for Renal cell Cancer Staging
This is multicentre feasibility study in patients with high risk ccRCC os suspicion of recurrence of metastatic disease (across RFL, KCL, Edinburgh/Glasgow). The main aim is to recruit across three total-body PET CT centres. Currently this study is being set up (aiming by end of 2026)
Going through R&D, should be applying to HRA, ethics and ARSAC soon
 		 Currently at the set-up stage  Thomas Wagner 
Total Body Nuclear Imaging for the Development of Nanotheranostics (TITAN-PET)  Aim: Use healthcare nanotechnologies do first in human TB PET. Clinical trial on soft tissue sarcoma  Currently optimising radioloabeling . Yet to perform first-in-human TB-PET but this is the goal  Rafael de Rosales, Chiara Sbruazzo 

 

PAUSED PROJECTS

Project name Status  Next Steps  Project leads
[99Tc] PSMA      Maryam Jessop, Michelle Ma, Maria Acosta
 PET-CT in Inflammatory disease     Stefan Voo
FDG PET-CT Gastric Cancer      Stefan Voo
DaTScan in APS, DIP and REM      Sabina Dizdarevic, Nitasha Singh, Chamani Punchihewa 
PET-CT in Long Covid 19 & CSF  Could not get funding from industry  No next steps  Thomas Biggans, Sabina Dizdarevic 
PSMA Database / Registry  Discussed in July 2026 Research Champions Meeting. On pause.    Vineet Prakash 

 

COMPLETED  PROJECTS

Project name  Status  Next Steps  Project leads 
MIBI in Renal masses – MultiMIBI multi-centre study 
Complete and published: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40986089/
Phase 3 RCT of sestamibi SPECT-CT in diagnostic pathway of indeterminate renal masses is going through NIHR grant application.
 		 Potential follow-up RCT exploring sestamibi in the diagnostic pathway to see if it can reduce benign nephrectomies.  Hannah Warren, Thomas Wagner, Thomas Biggans 
[99mTc]DTPA aerosol clearance as an assessment of pulmonary alveolar permeability in long COVID  Complete and presented at EANM as ePoster  Complete  Thomas Biggans 

 

The National PET Imaging Platform (NPIP)

is the UK's first-of-its-kind national total-body positron emission tomography (PET) imaging platform for drug discovery.

NPIP is a partnership between Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Innovate UK. It brings together transformational research from state-of-the-art total-body PET imaging scanners to transform medical research and industrialise cutting-edge technology, enhancing the quality and speed of drug discovery.

BNMS members can engage with NPIP through annual and local scientific meetings.
NPIP welcomes collaboration and would be delighted to partner with BNMS members in their research and development programmes.
Visit www.npip.org.uk to find out more

 

Research Power Pitches 2026

Submission for the Research Power Pitches has now closed for the BNMS Annual Spring Meeting 2026.

View the successful Research Power Pitches submitted in 2025 here

View the successful Research Power Pitches submitted in 2026 here

 

 

BNMS Nuclear Medicine Research Champions

Dr Maria J Acosta Medway Foundation Trust Physician
Dr Sara Amro  Royal Sussex County Hospital  Nuclear Medicine Clinical Fellow 
Dr Layla Badawy  Royal Free Hospital   Trainee Representative  
Mr Thomas Biggans Ninewells Hospital, Dundee Clinical Scientist
Prof Philip Blower King's College London Radiopharmacist
Prof Kevin Bradley Cardiff University  Radiologist 
Mr Michael Chowen Patient Representative
Prof Sabina Dizdarevic Brighton & Sussex University Hospital Physician
Dr Amy Eccles Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Radiologist
Dr Maged Elsewafy  Brighton & Sussex University Hospital  Physician 
Mrs Louise Fraser  Public Health England  Clinical Scientist 
Liz Frew  Patient Representative  
Dr Sameer Gangoli Brighton & Sussex University Hospital  Radiologist
Ms Maryam Jessop Brighton & Sussex University Hospital Technologist
Dr David Lilburn King's College London and Paul Strickland Scanner Centre Academic
Dr Michelle Ma King's College London Academic
Dr Juliana Maynard  Catapult  PET Director and Head of Translational Imaging 
Prof Ralph McCready Brighton & Sussex University Hospital Physician
Dr Daniel McGowan Oxford University Hospitals Clinical Scientist
Prof David Newby University of Edinburgh Physician
Mr Gareth Pawson Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust Technologist
Prof Vineet Prakash Royal Surrey County Hospital Physician & Radiologist
Dr Chamani Punchihewa Royal Surrey County Hospital Radiologist
Ms Luisa Roldao Pereira  Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust  Advanced Clinical Practitioner 
Ms Victoria Rowse University College London Hospital Clinical Scientist 
Dr Nitasha Singh Brighton  & Sussex University Hospital Physician & Radiologist
Prof Jane Sosabowski - BNMS Research Lead Queen Mary's University London  Radiochemist
Mr Giorgio Testanera King's College London
Dr Stefan Voo University College London Hospital Radiologist
Prof Jonathan Wadsley  Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Physician
Dr Thomas Wagner  Royal Free Hospital  Physician 
Miss Hannah Warren Royal Free Hospital Urologist
Dr Kshama Wechalekar Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Physician
Dr Jennifer Young King's College London Academic

 

 

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