Dr. Ramesh Neelamegam is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at the Research Imaging Institute (PET Section Chief for the Neurodegeneration Radiochemistry) and at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative diseases (Director of Research Radiochemistry) within the UT Health San Antonio. Research in the Molecular Imaging Probes and Radiochemistry Laboratory is directed towards the discovery of radiopharmaceuticals for both studying biochemical and pharmaceutical mechanisms in living systems, and diagnosis of disease conditions. Specific ligands for imaging targets (alpha-Syn, beta-amyloid and tau) include ones relevant for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other related disorders. In support of these goals, he also develops the novel chemical methodologies for small molecule bioconjugation with short-lived radioactive isotopes such as carbon-11 and fluorine-18.During his doctoral studies in the department of organic chemistry, he obtained training in the “Synthetic approaches to carbazoles using inter- and intra-molecular Michael additions” University of Madras, India. He pursued his postdoctoral training in the development of radiotracers for the diagnosis of brain disorders and tumors at the (1) department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York; (2) Radiology, MGH/Harvard Medical School, Boston and (3) Discovery, Radiochemistry & Radiopharmaceuticals laboratories, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly, Philadelphia.
In 2016, Dr. Neelamegam joined as a PET Core chemist at the MGH and an Instructor at the Harvard Medical School. He successfully developed novel imaging probes for diagnosis of brain disorders and many synthetic methods. Overall, Dr. Neelamegam produced more than 25 publications and a couple dozen of presentations at the national and international meetings. His knowledge in the PET radiotracer development for preclinical & clinical research studies, lead the development and validation of several PET radiopharmaceuticals under cGMP for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases is valuable.
