Nuclear Medicine Research Infrastructure

NuMeRI South Africa

This research infrastructure is implemented through a phased approach and is an open-access national research facility. It consists of a distributed network comprising of the NuMeRI Main centre at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, the NuMeRI Node for Infection Imaging at Tygerberg Hospital and the interim Pre-clinical Imaging Facility at Pelindaba.

Clinical research program

NuMeRI`s Clinical Research program will span a significant range of diseases and conditions of national importance, and will provide tools for individualized diagnostics and therapeutics. The concept of NuMeRI is the embodiment of socio-economic development through research, development and innovation and is strategically poised as an enabling platform to facilitate the fulfilment of the National Development Plan (“Vision 2030”).

Radiopharmaceutical production

The NuMeRI hub will be equipped with a state of the art GMP radiopharmacy ensuring high quality radiopharmaceuticals, both therapeutic and diagnostic. The cyclotron will produce both well-established isotopes (such as carbon-11, fluorine-18) as well as research isotopes (such as zirconium-89). Other sources of isotopes such as generators, the SAFARI-1 reactor at Necsa, and the iThemba LABS partnership will also be available.

Preclinical drug screening

NuMeRI`s Pre-clinical drug screening platform will complement the array of imaging modalities. These assets will permit the generation of higher quality information during the early stages in drug development, through visualization of the efficiency of new drug candidates and the capacity to select the most efficacious agents more rapidly

Node for Infection Imaging

The NuMeRI Node for Infection Imaging (NII) is hosted by the Central Analytical Facility at Stellenbosch University. The NII research facility is located, adjacent to the Western Cape Academic PET-CT Centre and comprises of a state-of-the-art PET-CT camera and a fully equipped radiopharmacy.

Clinical unit

NuMeRI is a one-stop-shop medical imaging facility dedicated to drug development and clinical research.

The facility is currently under construction on the premises of the Steve Biko Academic Hospital. The NuMeRI main center will include an IBA 18MEV research cyclotron, 2 PET/CT imaging systems, SPECT/CT and provisions for a PET/MR imaging system.

The facility will also house a commercial cyclotron and GMP radiopharmacy.

Radiopharmacy

The NuMeRI hub will be equipped with a state of the art GMP radiopharmacy ensuring high quality radiopharmaceuticals, both therapeutic and diagnostic.

The cyclotron will produce both well-established isotopes (such as carbon-11, fluorine-18) as well as research isotopes (such as zirconium-89).

Other sources of isotopes such as generators, the SAFARI-1 reactor at Necsa, and the iThemba LABS partnership will also be available.

Basic and Translational Research (BTR)

NuMeRI Basic and Translational Research (BTR) seeks to translate discoveries acquired in the laboratory through bench-based analyses into real-world clinical practice directly benefitting human health and influencing policy.

Pioneering research enables us to develop tailored diagnostics and therapies to curb communicable and non-communicable diseases pertinent in our African population.

Integrative analysis of epigenomics, transcriptome, proteomics, metabolomics and radiomics using the state-of-the-art technologies.

Preclinical imaging

The pre-clinical imaging center is fully accredited and operational.

The current equipment includes a high resolution microPET/CT (700 µm resolution), a high resolution microSPECT/CT (300 µm resolution), optical imaging camera, a cryotome, an autoradiography scanner an Individual Ventilated Cage housing system for rodents, an automated gamma counter and a fully functional BSL3 containment facility and capabilities.

Node of Infection imaging

A recent significant milestone in establishing NuMeRI was the launch of the NuMeRI Node for Infection Imaging (NII) at Tygerberg Hospital. This includes a PET/CT scanner and a fully equipped radiopharmacy.

A key priority of NuMeRI is to expedite development of drugs to address national priority diseases, for example tuberculosis.

The Aim of NuMeRI

NuMeRI will be a home to a crosscutting nuclear medicine related research roadmap, articulating the broad transdisciplinary research focus areas, desired goals for research, gaps in the current ecosystem which impeded transdisciplinary research, as well as projects to address these gaps. The projects will include amongst others:

to provide levers and incentives for researchers to collaborate rather than compete; and
to consolidate key NuMeRI and national infrastructure and equipment to facilitate sharing and collaborations, and develop principles for the harmonisation, access, and research data integration.

To contribute to Grand challenges such as Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) by providing imaging to understand drug resistance in in vitro and in vivo models (mostly animals) and furthermore provide imaging as a drug discovery tool.

Innovative drug development through cross-sector social partnerships involving public health strategies, university projects and SMEs.

Objectives of NuMeRI

Strengthen the Nuclear Medicine capacity in South Africa and beyond its borders in Africa.
Enhance South African research in Medicinal Chemistry.
Expedite development of drugs to address national priority diseases enabling new pharmaceuticals to reach market sooner.
The accelerated timelines offer both advantages in costs related to development, potentially saving around a billion rands a year in development costs.
Make generic drugs that are more affordable to developing nations.
Improve the quality of life of our local population.

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