{"id":6151,"date":"2022-05-09T10:08:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T10:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medical.ezag.com\/?post_type=insight&p=6151"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:47:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:47:03","slug":"the-pet-centre-at-kings-college-london-owner-of-the-10th-modular-lab-system","status":"publish","type":"insight","link":"https:\/\/medical.ezag.com\/en\/insights\/the-pet-centre-at-kings-college-london-owner-of-the-10th-modular-lab-system\/","title":{"rendered":"The PET Centre at King’s College London – Owner of the 10th Modular-Lab system"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t APR<\/span>\n\t\t\t 16<\/span>\n\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t Nuclear Medicine<\/span>\n\t\t\t
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The PET Centre at King’s College London – Owner of the 10th Modular-Lab system<\/h1>\n\t\t\t

Almost fifteen years ago, the\u00a0PET Centre at Kings\u2019s College London, UK bought the 10th Eckert & Ziegler Modular-Lab synthesis system. It was a tube-based Modular-Lab Standard for research and development. Elham Fakhri from\u00a0Imaging Equipment, our former Eckert & Ziegler distributor in the UK visited Dr. Robin Fortt and\u00a0Prof. Antony Gee to ask a couple of questions regarding their experiences with Modular-Lab and new projects in their pipeline.<\/p>\n\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\n\n

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Elham Fakhri:<\/span><\/b> Good morning Tony. Could you give a brief introduction for yourself and what your role is within the PET centre? Following that, what is your experience with Eckert & Ziegler?<\/span><\/p>\n

Antony Gee:<\/b> I am head of PET-Chemistry at Kings College London. We have a pipeline of novel-tracers that we are introducing for preclinical and translational studies into humans. For example this week: we have performed the first human studies of the novel tracer [18<\/sup>F]BF4<\/sub>, recently developed by the KCL team. To be able to develop and evaluate novel tracers like this, we need flexible radiotracer synthesis systems to give us the scope to optimize and change the labeling processes. The Eckert & Ziegler system does this very well, and helped us to get this new tracer for the the first time into man. We are delighted to continue our work with Eckert & Ziegler modules.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Our interview partners \u2013 Prof. Antony Gee and Dr. Robin Fortt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Elham Fakhri:<\/b> Thank you very much Tony and good morning Robin. Could you also please briefly introduce yourself and tell us about your experience within the field of nuclear medicine and PET\/CT. Furthermore, we would like to get an idea of what you\u2019ve been using your Modular-Lab Standard for and understand what happens in the KCL PET Imaging Centre in general.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Robin Fortt:<\/span><\/b> I\u2019m the development and instrumentation manager within the KCL St. Thomas\u2019 PET centre. I\u2019ve been here for several years and during that time we\u2019ve been using the Eckert & Ziegler Modular-Lab system for a variety of tracers. Most recently, as of Friday we performed the first in man synthesis and injection of Tetrafluoroborate, an 18<\/sup>F labeled tracer that was developed here at Kings. We are also using the same system simultaneously for [11<\/sup>C]acetate syntheses. So we have the combination of well-established syntheses, such as acetate, and novel 18<\/sup>F tracers, such as BF4; two different PET isotopes, one synthesis system. Because of the modular way in which the Modular-Lab is constructed we\u2019re able to effectively divide the system in two and so none of the system\u2019s components are shared. But we have one EC-cabinet, one synthesis laptop and it only takes up the space of one hot cell. That modularity is very important for us. The ability to customize the synthesis platform to do whatever we want and at any time, when we decide we need a new module that we don\u2019t have, it\u2019s a simple matter of just buying it, plugging it in and thus adding functionality that we didn\u2019t have previously. All for a relatively small expenditure without having to buy an entirely new synthesis system.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elham Fakhri:<\/span><\/b> Could you please give a short insight in the work of the KCL PET imaging centre at St. Thomas? Please name three to four milestones.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin Fortt:<\/b> The PET centre was established almost 30 years ago now, in 1992-1993. We currently are producing tracers in house for the scanning of up to 5000 patients per year. The vast majority of those are FDG, produced in-house. The non-FDG tracers are either synthesized on a Carbon-11 synthesis system or on the Eckert & Ziegler Modular-Lab. We have 2 Modular-Labs. The first was bought about 15 years ago. We\u2019ve used that most recently for the synthesis of BF4<\/sub> and Acetate, as well as for the synthesis of 18<\/sup>F labelled FLT, FET and FEC. Our most recent E&Z-acquisition was EC-285. That was over eight years ago. We\u2019ve used that mostly for the clinical production of 18<\/sup>F-fallypride and we\u2019re just about to validate the synthesis of 18<\/sup>F-FPEB, which is a project that we\u2019ve been working on for a while. In the literature the 18<\/sup>F-FPEB synthesis typically yields 4-5 %. There are only about 5 PET centres in the world making it (in the literature at least). And we\u2019re now achieving yields of around 14-15 % with our Modular-Lab, so we are very happy with the way it performs. In terms of recent milestones, a new facility, including two GMP labs, a dedicated R&D lab, a dedicated QC lab and unshielded cyclotron and vault has succesfully been constructed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Dr. Robin Fortt showing their Modular-Lab Standard synthesis system<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Elham Fakhri:<\/span><\/b> What are the advantages of the Modular-Lab system? You briefly mentioned the modularity, is there anything else that you like about the Modular-Lab?<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin Fortt:<\/span><\/b> The modularity is the key importance and the said ability to upgrade the system. Traditionally, when you buy a synthesis system, there is no option of integrating alternative features directly into software.
Two examples: You want to add a syringe drive module to an automated synthesis platform which does not have one. Attaching it via plumbing is not difficult. But how can you integrate the control of the module into the software of a system which is designed not to take it? How do you go about controlling it? None of that is an issue with the Modular-Lab Standard. A synthesis platform has three syringe drivers. If I want five syringe drivers on a Modular-Lab Standard, there is nothing to stop me. I am not limited to the number. So that gives me an amazing amount of flexibility.
Another example: When you\u2019re trying to develop new tracers that have never been produced before and where <\/span>no fixed \u2018recipe\u2019 has been described for you to follow, the ability to just add-on extra functionality and extra components is key.
Another feature that is also very nice is the fact that we can arrange the valves, the tubing and the plumbing in any way we like through the Modular-Lab software. We can drag and drop components from the Modular-Lab library, both in the graphical user interface and in creating macros, and arrange the tubing in any way that we desire without any limitations. We\u2019re not forced to go from valve one through valve two to get to valve three. I can drag and drop as I like and plumb as I like. That gives us an amazing amount of flexibility.<\/p>\n

Elham Fakhri:<\/span><\/b> The UK is one of the strictest countries in terms of regulations. How has Eckert & Ziegler been efficient in regards to that?<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin Fortt:<\/strong> Well, the fact that the software is GAMP 5 and 21 CFR part 11 compliant goes a long way to satisfy our regulators. Batch reports are generated automatically in PDF format, they are non-editable, the software captures the times of each step of the synthesis, the user\u2019s name and details and any interference by the operator, such as if you have to pause the program or skip a step. I get reliable real time data on temperature or radioactivity. In the past life I used to build my own systems from scratch, from valves and wire and the amount of validation that I always had to go through to satisfy our QA department was extreme. The fact that the Modular-Lab software has all the regulatory paper work in place and is inherently build into the system makes my life very easy from the development as well as from the troubleshooting perspective. I can go back and I get the trending or look at steps that have been skipped or modified by the operator. Because of the software\u2019s 21 CFR and GAMP 5 conformity the regulatory side very easy as well. Basically they see the Modular-Lab Standard and they\u2019re happy, so they don\u2019t dig deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Using the Modular-Lab software<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Elham Fakhri:<\/span><\/b> Where do you see your PET department going into in roughly 10 years time?<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin Fortt:<\/span><\/b> Well, our current lab is nearly 30 years old, it has four hot cells and it\u2019s been very much about supplying FDG to 20 patients a day and that has been our core business. We have research studies, but it\u2019s at most one patient a day or a couple of different non-FDG tracers per week. With the expansion and the new facility we\u2019re going to massively expand both our portfolio of tracers and the number of research studies we will be entering into. I have a list of probably 10 new tracers both a combination of existing tracers that have already been well developed and established within the literature that our clinicians want to apply to new disease models as well as entirely new tracers never before been used in man. The expansion of the research and development aspect of the PET-centre is going to be the main focus for the next 10 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elham Fakhri:<\/span><\/b> How people are working with the Modular-Lab systems?<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin Fortt:<\/span><\/b> Currently there are two extremely talented development chemists working for me \u2013 Frazer Twyman and Stefan Hader. They are both working on projects for development and translation into man. Within the core production team we have two more, Fabio Rinaldi and Neria Ossoulyan. They\u2019re working on the clinical 18<\/sup>F-fallypride work and clinical 18<\/sup>F-BF4. Then at the same time we use spare valves that aren\u2019t currently dedicated to the acetate or the 18<\/sup>F-BF4 to do simple research projects with the PhD student Carlotta Taddei and Post-Doc Salvatore Bongarzone. So I guess we have a team of six or seven people currently working on the two different Modular-Labs, split three ways \u2013 four ways really and that\u2019s the flexibility the Modular-Lab gives us. We don\u2019t have to worry about a PhD student playing with the E&Z, because she\u2019s got her own dedicated valves-set that is not used in the clinical, it\u2019s not used in the IMP -synthesis . So we\u2019re happy for her to do whatever she wants. She blocks a valve or she has a leak \u2013 doesn\u2019t bother me because it\u2019s completely separate and that\u2019s really useful.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The KCL Modular-Lab system<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Elham Fakhri:<\/b>\u00a0Is there anything being developed on the preclinical system at the moment with you guys here at KCL?<\/p>\n

Robin Fortt:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0The most exciting research work coming out of that at the moment is Carlotta and Salvatore\u2019s work. They\u2019re doing a carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide conversion on the Modular-Lab which is mediated with silane species and they are also doing carbonylations with the CO, to make [11<\/sup>C]amides and [11<\/sup>C]esters. Furthermore they\u2019re working on carboxylations, with CO2<\/sub>\u00a0to produce [11<\/sup>C]carboxylic acids, [11<\/sup>C]ureas and other carbonyl-containing compounds. That\u2019s all very exciting, when that\u2019s being applied to the new tracers coming through the pipeline we\u2019ll see how they look in the preclinical environment. So that\u2019s at the very early stage and then we\u2019ve got the very late state. For\u00a018<\/sup>F-FPEB we\u2019re doing some animal metabolite work to see how the metabolite profiles look in the preclinical environment before we go into man.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elham Fakhri:<\/span><\/b> I know you\u2019ve been having Eckert & Ziegler Equipment for roughly 15 years, how has that experience been with the service they have provided?<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin Fortt:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Well in general we find the modules very reliable; I mean we have five of the four valve modules that are nearly ten years old. We don\u2019t have any trouble with blocked tubes, we don\u2019t have any trouble with leaks and we don\u2019t have any trouble with things wearing out. Day-to-day they are used quite heavily in a range of different chemical environments. We generate solids accidentally, we put harsh acids through them and generally they are very robust. Paul Smith the engineer from Imaging Equipment comes to do the service but generally he doesn\u2019t have all that many things to worry about other than just to giving a spring clean. Paul is very knowledgeable and when we do have trouble he\u2019s always got plenty of good ideas and suggestions how we can sort our problems over the phone without him to come in, so that\u2019s very useful. When we have had issues with a module we\u2019ve been sending it back to Eckert & Ziegler and Imaging Equipment has been finding us with a loan module, so we\u2019ve never been without a module for more than a couple of days.
<\/span>I look forward very much in the future to seeing new developments in the software and modifications to the hardware to make the Eckert & Ziegler system even more broadly applicable, flexible and useful for the new PET-centre going forwards.<\/p>\n

Elham Fakhri:<\/b>\u00a0That ends our interview for today, thank you very much.<\/p>\n

The interview was originally conducted at King\u2019s College London PET Centre at St. Thomas Hospital, UK on March 1, 2016. Dates and timelines have been adjusted to fit the re-release in 2022.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n<\/section>\t\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t \t

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This could be interesting for people in your network?<\/p>\n

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