Supervisor for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026 - RADIOTHERANOSTICS

Nuclear medicine offers a unique approach to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by enabling the non-invasive visualization and quantitative analysis of biological processes in vivo. Radiopharmaceuticals (i.e. radioactively labelled compounds administered at sub-pharmacological doses) enable real-time, whole-body assessment of disease-associated molecular pathways, providing functional information that complements and extends conventional anatomical imaging. In oncology, nuclear medicine plays a central role in tumour detection but also phenotyping, therapy selection and the delivery of targeted radiotherapy.

The Radiopharmaceuticals for Molecular Diagnosis and Therapy group focuses on the development of novel radiopharmaceuticals for cancer detection, molecular characterisation and targeted radionuclide therapy, with a particular emphasis on tumours of the gastrointestinal tract. These compounds are designed to selectively recognise specific cancer biomarkers, enabling diagnostic readouts that closely resemble pathological analysis while avoiding the need for invasive biopsies. By quantitatively mapping radiopharmaceutical biodistribution in vivo, the group aims to capture spatial and temporal information on tumour biology without perturbing the underlying biological systems.

Current research lines include:

1. Identification and validation of imaging biomarkers for the early diagnosis and prognosis of gastrointestinal cancers, in particular, pancreatic cancer.

2. Development of innovative radiolabeling strategies for biomolecules and nanoconstructs.

3. Nuclear imaging-based tracking of specific immune cell subpopulations for immunotherapy monitoring.

4. Design of radiotheranostic agents that integrate diagnostic imaging and targeted radiotherapy within a single molecular platform.

Research within the group is highly interdisciplinary, situated at the interface of radiochemistry, molecular and cell biology, medical physics and translational oncology. This integrated approach fosters close collaboration across disciplines and supports the development of innovative molecular imaging and therapeutic tools with direct clinical relevance.

Email contact: julia.bagunna@uam.es / jbaguna@iib.uam.es