Prof. Baljinder Singh from the Department of Nuclear Medicine, PGIMER, Chandigarh in the 46th Annual Congress of the British Society of Nuclear Medicine (BNMS-18) held at Birmingham delivered an invited talk “ 68Ga-Pentixafor PET imaging in Lung Cancer”. The talk was graded in to the Scientific session “ Masterclass in Oncology” and was included in the Congress Highlights. 68Ga-pentixafor is a novel tracer that localizes the CXCR4 receptors over-expressed in various cancers. PGI Chandigarh is the 1st centre in Asia and 6th Centre in the World having started using this novel PET technique for cancer detection in lung cancer and multiple myeloma. The dedicated GMP chemistry module used for the synthesis of 68Ga-pentixafor prior to injecting into the patients has been procured by the Department of Nuclear Medicine under DST-FIST grant of 1.50 crores. The same molecule (pentixafor- a cyclic pentapeptide) can be labelled (by using the same chemistry module) with beta and alpha emitters and can be used to treat effectively the advanced stage cancer patients in whom the currently available treatment options have failed.
Prof. Baljinder Singh also attended the 12th Congress of the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology in Melbourne, Australia from . He presented his research paper and also chaired a scientific session in this prestigious world congress. During this world federation congress in Melbourne, Prof. Singh as President (Elect) of the Society of Nuclear Medicine-India represented India in the combined task/group meetings of all the International societies of Nuclear Medicine from around the World.
Prof. Baljinder Singh is at present (13-16 May, 2018) attending the Atom Expo-2018 meeting in Sochi, Russia. He delivered an invited talk on “Development of Nuclear Medicine in India-Prospects and Challenges” in this meeting. The ATOMEXPO International Forum is a major event in the international nuclear industry. It is the largest exhibition and business platform for discussing the current state of the nuclear industry and setting future trends, and has been held annually since 2009. During AtomExpo-18, Professor Singh acted as a jury member for selecting the best research projects and also acted as a panellist in the panel discussion by eminent experts to meet the challenges in Nuclear Medicine around the world.
