Five research projects received funding to advance imaging for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and prosthetic joint infections.
The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging announced the recipients of five research awards from its 2026 Mars Shot Fund, totaling more than $500,000. These grants focus on advancing imaging research for infection and inflammation, according to a press release from the organization.
The awards support studies involving inflammatory bowel disease, artery inflammation, diabetic bone infections, prosthetic joint infections, and rheumatoid arthritis.
“This year’s Alavi Mars Shot Research Awards reflect the extraordinary breadth and real-world urgency of prompt nuclear medicine imaging of infection and inflammation,” says Richard Wahl, MD, mars shot fund chair and professor at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, in a release. “By accelerating innovative imaging science across these diverse conditions, we’re expanding what nuclear medicine potentially can offer so clinicians can make better-informed decisions.”
The award winners are:
- Gad Abikhzer, DEC, MDCM, FRCPC, associate professor at McGill University and chief of nuclear medicine at Jewish General Hospital, received $110,000 to evaluate the diagnostic performance of digital positron emission tomography and computed tomography for diabetic foot osteomyelitis. The study will use standardized protocols to examine the impact of factors such as hyperglycemia and antibiotic use on diagnostic accuracy.
- Lorenzo Nardo, MD, PhD, professor and nuclear medicine division chief at the University of California Davis, was awarded $110,000 to develop a methodology to non-invasively assess rheumatoid arthritis. The research focuses on providing biomarkers to guide clinical management and assess response to therapy.
- Koenraad Van Laere, MD, PhD, DSc, professor and head of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Lennert Boeckxstaens, MD, staff member at the same institution, received $110,000 to identify active inflammation in giant cell arteritis. The team aims to establish a novel biomarker using whole-body positron emission tomography and computed tomography.
- Nerissa Viola, PhD, associate professor at Wayne State University, received $100,000 to validate a novel tracer for tracking the progression and severity of chronic inflammatory bowel disease.
- David Wilson, MD, PhD, professor at the University of California San Francisco, was granted $100,000 to study a cell wall-derived radiotracer. The project aims to help clinicians differentiate active infection from sterile inflammation in patients with suspected prosthetic joint infections.
“These awards ultimately have the power to transform patient care,” says Munir Ghesani, Mars Shot Fund co-chair and associate professor of radiology and neurosurgery at Mount Sinai in New York, in a release.
The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging established the Mars Shot Research Fund in 2023. The fund provides resources to translate research in nuclear medicine imaging, radiopharmaceutical therapy, and data science into tools and treatments for patients.
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