Professor Jane Sosabowski
Group Leader
Professor of Radionuclide Imaging and Therapy
Overview
My research focuses on the development of radiopharmaceuticals for imaging and therapy of cancer, and translating these to the clinic. In particular I am interested in the use of alpha particle emitters for targeted radionuclide therapy. In addition, my group is developing methods for non-invasive imaging and quantitation of genetically modified cell therapies in vivo (e.g. CAR-T cells) to provide data on their biodistribution, expansion and efficacy over time. We have also developed and implemented computational machine learning tools for defining disease burden in models of pancreatic cancer using MRI imaging in order to reduce the numbers of animals used in scientific research.
Team
Julie Cleaver
Research technician
Callum Zak Emin
PhD Student
Julia Foucault
PhD Student
Dr Peter Gawne
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Tia Gibson
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Dhifaf Jasim
Radiochemistry Facility Manager, Preclinical Imaging Core
Dr Jana Kim
Preclinical Imaging Facility Manager
Colin Pegrum
In Vivo Research Core Service Manager
Dr Lucy Silcock
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Lydia Smith
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Jennifer Young
Staff Scientist (Senior Radiochemist)
Research
My research team works on radiolabelling biomolecules (e.g. peptides, proteins and antibodies) for various reasons including: determination of their in vivo biodistribution, validation of in vivo targets, or as imaging or radiopharmaceutical therapy agents for cancer. We use positron emitting radionuclides such as 68Ga, 89Zr or 64Cu in order to carry out in vivo PET imaging, 111In or 99mTc for SPECT imaging, or therapy radionuclides such as 177Lu (beta particle emitter) and alpha particle emitters such as 225Ac. Unfortunately, despite extremely promising clinical results, there is a global shortage of alpha particle emitting radionuclides which hampers this type of research. However, as part of the Radionuclides for Health UK project, we aim to be working with 212Pb sourced from the UK National Nuclear Laboratory within the next 2 years.
Advanced cell therapies such as CAR-T cells can be genetically modified to express a transporter that can take up a radioactive probe in vivo. Our cell tracking work uses the sodium iodide transporter, hNIS, along with 99mTc injection to track these therapeutic cells as they localise to the tumour. Our research focuses on obtaining quantitative measures of the numbers of cells being detected and acting on the tumour over time.
We also use radioactive probes such as 18F-FDG and 18F-FLT to monitor response to various types of cancer treatments in vivo (e.g. chemo or antibody treatments) as well as MRI using a novel computational 3D mouse atlas tool developed in the lab. Increased accuracy in measuring tumour burden reduces biological variability, allowing a reduction in group size of studies that use orthotopic tumours and those that develop spontaneously over long periods of time.
Key Publications
Clinically compliant spatial and temporal imaging of chimeric antigen receptor T-cells. Nat Commun (2018) 9(1):1081. PMID: 29540684
Organ Biodistribution of Radiolabelled γδ T Cells Following Liposomal Alendronate Administration in Different Mouse Tumour Models. Nanotheranostics (2020) 4(2):71-82. PMID: 32190534
Systemic delivery and SPECT/CT in vivo imaging of 125I-labelled oncolytic adenoviral mutants in models of pancreatic cancer. Sci Rep (2019) 9(1):12840. PMID: 31492884
Site-specific stabilization of minigastrin analogs against enzymatic degradation for enhanced cholecystokinin-2 receptor targeting. Theranostics (2018) 8(11): 2896-2908. PMID: 29896292
PET and SPECT imaging of a radiolabeled minigastrin analogue conjugated with DOTA, NOTA, and NODAGA and labeled with (64)Cu, (68)Ga, and (111)In. Mol Pharm (2014) 11(11):3930-7. PMID: 24992368
See recent publicationsMajor Funding
- Jan 2022-June 2022 – Queen Mary University of London Research England Policy Impact Award, Radionuclides for Health UK, Policy Development – Jane Sosabowski, Jennifer Young, Phil Blower (KCL), £43,526.04
- 2022-2024 – Neuroblastoma UK, Dinutuximab Beta as a theragnostic vector for non-invasive molecular imaging and radiotherapy of high-risk neuroblastoma, Dr Mark Gaze (UCLH), Co-I Dr Jane Sosabowski, Dr Samantha Terry (KCL), £214,384.91
- 2021-2022 – Queen Mary University of London Impact Award Fund/EPSRC, Re-establishing the UK supply of Radionuclides, £49,883
- 2018-2022 – Barts Charity, Development of a Gallium-68 PET Clinical Imaging Service, £549,993
- 2018-2022 – Invicro LLC, Improved characterisation of disease models for validation of quantitative PET and SPECT in vivo imaging, £331,951
Other Activities
- Project lead, Radionuclides for Health UK – a Queen Mary University of London/King’s College London/UK National Nuclear Laboratory advocacy initiative to engage with government departments, academics, professional organisations, charities and industry to work towards re-establishing the UK supply of radionuclides for molecular radiotherapy. Twitter: @RadionuclidesUK
- Academic lead, Preclinical Imaging Core Facility at BCI
Biography
I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from University of Natal, Durban, South Africa and went on carry out an MSc by research into the Photochemistry of Sunscreen Constituents at same university.
I then moved to the UK to the Joint Department of Physics at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey and completed my PhD looking at Development of PET radiotracers for the in vivo assessment of multidrug resistance. I joined the Nuclear Medicine Research Laboratory at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry as a post doc with Prof Stephen Mather.
With the advent of pre-clinical imaging systems this lab developed into the Cancer Imaging Laboratory, which I now lead.
Related News
£10m awarded to partnership investigating innovative radiolabelled nanomedicines
Researchers at Barts Cancer Institute (BCI), Queen Mary University of London, will play a part in a revolutionary new partnership with King’s College London and the University of Leeds, aiming to accelerate and optimise the clinical translation of healthcare nanotechnologies.
General News 11 August 2025
BCI and KCL collaboration develops a clinically-relevant CAR T cell imaging system
A collaboration involving researchers from BCI’s Centre for Molecular Oncology, led by Dr Jane Sosabowski, and the ImmunoEngineering Group of King’s College London (KCL), led by Dr Sophie Papa, has developed an effective and clinically-relevant imaging system to monitor chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells within the body. This system reduced the tumour burden in a pre-clinical model of prostate cancer and allowed for repeated and non-invasive assessment of CAR T cell localisation.
General News 19 April 2018