Timeline of Our Accomplishments

1974

Invention of the PET scanner

-Drs. M. Phelps and E. Hoffman

 

1975

Invention of the human PET scanner

-Drs. M. Phelps and E. Hoffman

 

1977

First physical identification and characterization of the epidermal growth factor receptor

-Dr. H. Herschman

 

1977

First clinical PET center

-Drs. M. Phelps and E. Hoffman

 

1980

Identification of S-100 protein as a biomarker for metastatic melanoma

-Dr. H. Herschman

 

1980

Identification of protein tyrosine kinases

-Dr. O. Witte

 

1981

First mapping of metabolic responses in the human brain to tasks and stimuli with PET

-Drs. M. Phelps, J. Mazziotta, and D. Kuhl

 

1982

Cerebral Protein syntheses determination in humans with L-[1-11C] Leucine with PET 

-Drs. M. Phelps and J. Barrio

 

1982

First PET stress rest myocardial perfusion imaging with noninvasive detection of subcritical coronary stenoses in animals and patients

-Dr. H. Schelbert

 

1984

Founder and Director of Institute for Molecular Medicine (IMED)

-Dr. M. Phelps

 

1984

Invention of PC controlled automated radiosynthesizer for PET probes

-Drs. J. Barrio and N. Satyamurthy

 

1984

Identifying the Bcr-Abl CML oncogene

-Dr. O. Witte

 

1986

Discovery of the "myocardial perfusion metabolism mismatch" as a metabolic hallmark of myocardial viability, subsequently referred to in cardiology as "myocardial hibernation"

-Dr. H. Schelbert

 

1986

S-100 protein as a biomarker for amelanotic melanoma

-Dr. H. Herschman 

 

1989

Founder and Director of the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging

-Dr. M. Phelps

 

1989

First noninvasive quantification of regional myocardial blood in humans, using N-13 ammonia and dynamic PET imaging

-Dr. H. Schelbert

 

1990

Development of whole body PET imaging

-Drs. M. Dahlbom, E. Hoffman, M. Phelps 

 

1990

Brain amyloid and tau neuroaggregate PET imaging in living subjects

-Drs. J. Barrio and N. Satyamurthy

 

1990

First dedicated PET scanner for large animals

-Drs. M. Phelps and E. Hoffman

 

1991

Cloning of the Cyclooxygenase 2 gene

-Dr. H. Herschman

 

1992

Founder and Chair, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology; includes clinical Division of Nuclear Medicine and PET

-Dr. M. Phelps

 

1993

Conduct first clinical gene therapy trial on the West Coast

-Dr. J. Economou

 

1993

Identification of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) as a major target of autoimmunity in mouse type 1 diabetes

-Dr. D. Kaufman

 

1993

Identification of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase in X-linked agammaglobulinemia 

-Dr. O. Witte

 

1995

Identification of Synaptotagmin 4 as a depolarization-induced neuronal protein that modulates memory, learning and mood     

-Dr. H. Herschman

 

1996

Hypoxia as a physiological selective force for p53 mutation

-Dr. T. Graeber

 

1996

Demonstration that a GAD-based vaccine could prevent type 1 diabetes in mice

-Dr. D. Kaufman

 

1997

Elected to the National Academy of Sciences

-Dr. O. Witte

 

1997

Prostate Stem Cell Antigen as a target for prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy

-Dr. O. Witte

 

1997

Invention of microPET scanner for small animals

-Drs. S. Cherry, A. Chatziioannou, and M. Phelps 

 

1998

Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology for identification and mechanisms of action of nitric oxide

-Dr. L. Ignarro

 

1998

The discovery and regulation of Cyclooxygenase 2 expression in human lung cancer 

-Drs. S. Dubinett and H. Herschman

 

1999

Demonstrated PIP3 as the major intracellular target of the PTEN tumor suppressor gene

-Dr. H. Wu

 

1999

Identification of GABA receptors on immune cells

-Dr. D. Kaufman

 

1999

Elected to the National Academy of Sciences; Enrico Fermi Presidential Award from President Clinton

-Dr. M. Phelps

 

1999

Elected to the National Academy of Sciences

-Dr. L. Ignarro

 

1999

PET reporter gene-PET reporter probe non-invasive imaging

-Drs. H. Herschman, M. Phelps, J. Barrio

 

2000

Engineered antibody fragments as imaging probes for immunoPET 

-Dr. A. Wu

 

2001

Elucidated a strong link between PTEN controlled stem cell function and tumorigenesis 

-Dr. H. Wu

 

2001

The first microarray study of neural stem cells

-Drs. H. Kornblum and D. Geschwind

 

2001

Algorithm for detecting autocrine feedback signaling in cancers from gene expression profiles

-Dr. T. Graeber

 

2001

Development of tumor-selective retroviral replicating vector system

-Dr. N. Kasahara

 

2002

First study to demonstrate impact of FDG PET cancer patient management

-Dr. J. Czernin

 

2002

Genome-wide voxelation expression maps of the brain 

-Dr. D. Smith

 

2002

The in vivo demonstration in humans of the mirror neuron system

-Dr. J. Mazziotta

 

2004

GABA administration inhibits inflammatory responses and prevents type 1 diabetes in mice

-Dr. D. Kaufman

 

2006

PET reporter gene expression used for tracking gene therapy in cancer patients

-Drs. J. Barrio, S. Gambhir and M. Phelps

 

2006

PINK1 and PARKIN, two genes mediating Parkinson’s disease, function in a common genetic pathway to regulate mitochondrial integrity 

-Dr. M. Guo

 

2006

Specific SCF E3 ubiquitin ligase inhibitor (the first for a field of ~2 decades)

-Dr. J. Huang

 

2006

Identification of binding sites for general anesthetics on the GABAA receptor 

-Dr. R. Olsen

 

2006

Development of the first probablistic population atlas of the human brain

-Dr. J. Mazziotta

 

2007

GABAA receptors mediate both acute and chronic effects of ethanol  

-Dr. R. Olsen

 

2007

F-18 labeled engineered antibody fragments for rapid PET imaging

-Dr. A. Wu

 

2007

DARTS method for small-molecule target identification (a new paradigm)

-Dr. J. Huang

 

2008

Demonstrated that multi-hit progression in tumorigenesis is likely to take place at the level of cancer stem cells 

-Dr. H. Wu

 

2009

Development of [F-18] FAC & analogs for imaging dCK enzyme activity

-Drs. C. Radu, N. Satyamurthy, O. Witte, and J. Czernin

2010

Human prostate stem cell and epithelial transformation

-Dr. O. Witte 

 

2010

Development of Single Cell Barcode Chips for Proteomics 

-Dr. J. Heath

 

2010

A comprehensive map of human genetic interactions

-Dr. D. Smith

 

2010 

Invention of miniaturized PET scanner-PETBox; commercialized by Sofie Biosciences

-Dr. A. Chatziioannou

 

2010

Cerebral glucose utilization via sodium glucose transporters (SGLTs)

-Drs. J. Barrio and E. Wright 

 

2010

Initiation of first-in-human clinical trial of retroviral replicating vector-mediated gene therapy

-Dr. N. Kasahara

 

2010

Rank-rank hypergeometric overlap (RRHO) algorithm for graphical comparison of gene expression signatures

-Dr. T. Graeber

 

2010

Microfluidic devices for measuring signaling events at the single cell level from patient tumors

-Drs. T. Graeber and H. Tseng

 

2011

GABA administration prevents rheumatoid arthritis in mice

-Dr. D. Kaufman

 

2011

Identified cross-talk between PTEN/PI3K with AR and with RAS/MAPK pathways in tumor progression and treatment resistance 

-Dr. H. Wu

 

2011

GABA administration inhibits the development of insulin resistance and glucose tolerance

-Dr. D. Kaufman

 

2011/2012

Mechanisms of melanoma escape from BRAF inhibition in patients; BRAF as an anti-tumor target in human melanoma. FDA drug approval

-Drs. A. Ribas and R. Lo

 

2011

Diagnostic applications of Bar Code Chips for melanoma cancer patients 

-Dr. J. Heath

 

2011

Invention of Electronic Microfluidic Chip for synthesis of PET probes

-Drs. M. Van Dam, P. Keng, and C.J. Kim

 

2012

Glucose deprivation activates a metabolic and signaling amplification loop leading to cell death

-Dr. T. Graeber

 

2012

Demonstrated that FDG PET/CT imaging can predict long term survival of sarcoma patients undergoing neoadjuvant therapy

-Drs. J. Czernin and F. Eilber

 

2012

Diagnostic applications of Bar Code Chips for immunological mechanism for Inflammatory Bowel Disease 

-Dr. J. Heath

 

2012

Identification of natural products that block alcohol-induced pathologies and dependence 

-Dr. R. Olsen