UM’s research team receives awards at annual meeting of Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
提高治癌效果 澳大研究團隊獲核醫年會獎項

After receiving the first prize at the Asian Nuclear Medicine Academic Forum earlier, the Biomedical Imaging Laboratory (BIG) from the University of Macau’s (UM) Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) and Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) shined again on world stage. The team received the third prize of the Computer and Instrumentation Council (CalC) Young Investigator Award (YIA) and the International Best Abstract Award at the 64th Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging held in Denver, United States, for their works titled ‘BIGDOSE: Software for 3D Personalised Targeted Radionuclide Therapy Dosimetry’, and ‘High-Performance Virtual CT for Enhanced Targeted Radionuclide Therapy Dosimetry’, respectively. This is the first time a research team from the Greater China region has been shortlisted for, and received an award in this YIA category.

The two related projects were led by Greta Mok, an associate professor from the FST and a joint associate professor from the FHS. Her postgraduate student, Li Tiantian, presented the work at the YIA Symposium, competing with teams from leading institutions such as Stanford University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and United Imaging Healthcare America. The International Best Abstract Award is given to the paper with the highest score in each region. Based on these two projects, the UM team developed one-stop computing software to provide accurate and precise dosimetric calculation for targeted radionuclide therapy. This tool enhances the efficacy of tumour treatment while reducing unnecessary radiation and toxicity to normal organs, providing a personalised treatment plan for patients based on their own imaging data.

Held in North America, the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging is the most influential international conference in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging. This year’s meeting attracted over 5,000 scholars and doctors, as well as over 2,000 scientific abstract submissions.

澳門大學科技學院、健康科學學院生物醫學影像實驗室研究團隊繼奪亞洲核醫學論壇一等獎後，再於美國丹佛巿舉行的“第64屆北美核醫學與分子影像年會＂分別憑“以高效虛擬電腦斷層影像以提升核素治療劑量學”和“BIGDOSE：三維個人化核素治療劑量學軟件”贏得了國際最佳論文獎與青年研究家獎（電腦與儀器類別）第三名。後者是大中華地區的科研隊伍首次在此類別入圍並獲奬，再一次向世界展示澳大科研團隊的一級科研能力。

該兩項相關的研究項目是由電機及電腦工程系副教授、健康科學學院兼任副教授莫昇萍帶領，青年研究家獎競賽則由其研究生李恬恬代表參加，並與來自美國史丹福大學、伊利諾州大學香檳分校、德州大學安德森癌症中心、美國聯影公司等頂級院校的隊伍進行競逐。國際最佳論文獎則是頒給每個參加地區中評分最高的論文。

兩項相關研究主要是利用病人的功能性三維核素以及電腦斷層影像，為標靶核素治療劑量計算提供一站式的精準科研軟體，以提高癌症治療效果，並減少非必要的輻射劑量和標靶核素對正常器官的副作用，為病人提供度身訂造的個人化治療計劃。

是次會議是核醫與分子影像界中最具影響力的頂級學術會議，每年在北美舉行，今年有超過五千名學者與醫生參加，收到超過二千份論文摘要進行評比。