ERF BAC Young Investigator Awards

Overview

SNMMI symposium and competition, in association with the Brain Imaging Council, for the best scientific abstracts on neurosciences nuclear medicine. The objectives of the award are to identify promising young investigators working in brain imaging and neuroscience nuclear medicine. These awards are made possible by the Education and Research Foundation (ERF).

  • Only abstracts submitted to categories within the Neurosciences Track will be considered for the Brain Imaging Council Young Investigator Award Symposium.
  • All applicants must be currently enrolled or within five (5) years of a completed certified training program.
  • All former first prize winners are ineligible.
  • Abstracts must be submitted to one of the five (5) categories in the Neuroscience Track.
  • All applicants must choose "Oral" as the Presentation Type.

Past Recipients

2026

First Place: Jia Ying

Structurally Constrained FDG-PET Metabolic Networks via Diffusion MRI AID Lateralization and Outcome Prediction in MTLE

Second Place: Lucas Narciso

Tau PET Imaging in Patients with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy using [18F]OXD-2314

Third Place: Anna Giarratana

Longitudinal Outcomes of Neocortical-Positive, Medial Temporal Lobe-Negative 18F-MK-6240 Tau PET

2025

First Place: Renesmee Kuo

Revealing the suppressors: A new PET imaging approach for detecting MDSCs before and after immunotherapy in a model of brain metastases

Second Place: Nakul Raval, PhD

Quantification of NMDA GluN2B Receptors Occupancy by ifenprodil in Nonhuman Primates Using (S)-[18F]OF-NB1 PET

Third Place: Zeyu Zhou

Dynamic 18F-FDG PET Imaging Reveals Age-Related Impairment of Ventricular CSF Clearance: Implications for Glymphatic Dysfunction

 

2024

First Place: Nikkita Khattar
"Assessing visual activation in the human brain with ultra-high performance FDG functional PET using the NeuroEXPLORER, a next-generation brain PET imaging system"

Second Place: Renesmee C. Kuo
"Early detection and tracking of activated macrophages and microglia in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis using [18F]OP-801 PET imaging before and after a novel"

Third Place: Fabio Raman
"Dynamic Amyloid PET: Relationships to Tau PET and Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease"

2023

First Place: Vincent Doyon
First PET Investigation of the Human Brain at 2 µL Resolution with the Ultra-High-Resolution (UHR) scanner

Second Place: Mai Hatano
Characterization of four major psychiatric disorders based on AMPA receptor distributions measured with [11C]K-2: a novel PET tracer study

Third Place: Meijuan Jiang
Evaluation of Five Candidate Radioligands for PET Imaging of Phosphodiesterase-4D in Monkey Brain

2021

Second Place: Matthew Zammit
Neurofibrillary tau emerges in adults with Down syndrome during the earliest stages of Aβ accumulation.

Third Place: Ganna Blazhenets, M. Sc.
Altered regional cerebral function and its association with cognitive impairment in COVID 19: A prospective FDG PET study

2020

1st place: Merle C. Hoenig, PhD
"Resistance to Tau and Amyloid Pathology Facilitates Super-Aging"

2nd place: Matthew Zammit, MS
"Regional associations between amyloid and glucose metabolism during the progression of Alzheimer's disease in Down Syndrome"

3rd place: Katherine L. Lucot, PhD
"Visualizing innate immune activation in a mouse model of Parkinson's Disease using a highly specific TREM1-PET tracer"

2019

1st place: Matthias Brendel
"F-PI2620 Tau-PET in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy- A multi-center evaluation"

2nd place: Songye Li
"First in human Evaluation of F-SDM-8, A novel Radiotracer for PET Imaging of Synaptic Vesicle Glocoprotein 2A"

3rd place: Corinne Beinat
"Evaluation of 18F-DASA-23 for non-invasive measurement of aberrantly expressed pyruvate kinase M2 in glioblastoma: preclinical and first human studies"

2018

1st Place: Stefanie M. Willekens, PhD
"Regional FDG decreases in healthy ageing are associated with white matter integrity changes: a simultaneous PET-MR study"

2nd Place: Thomas Haywood, PhD
"A Novel Positron Emission Tomography Reporter Gene/Reporter Probe for the Central Nervous System"

3rd Place: Yihuan Lu, PhD
"Partial volume correction for PET synaptic density imaging with 11C-UCB-J"

2017

1st Place: Jenny Ceccarini
"Recovery of decreased metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 availability in abstinent alcohol-dependent subjects."

2nd Place: Hui Liu
"Optimization of S1P1-specific PET radioligands for imaging neuroinflammation."

3rd Place: Cristina E. Popescu
"A18F-FDG PET brain in presurgical management of patients with periventricular nodular heterotopias related epilepsy: diagnostic features and long term outcome."

2016

1st Place: Leonardo Iaccarino
"Evaluation of the associations between [11C]PIB and [18F]AV1451 PET retention and MRI atrophy in Alzheimer’s Disease."

2nd Place: Patrick Worhunsky
"Concurrently upregulated and downregulated D2/D3 receptor systems in cocaine use disorder using [11C]PHNO."

3rd Place: Marcus Unterrainer
"Value of 18F-FET PET for chemotherapy monitoring in non-contrast enhancing gliomas."

2015

1st Place: Matthias Brendel
"Glucose Metabolism and Glial Activation in a Transgenic AD Mouse Model: A Triple Tracer PET Study"

2nd Place: Flavia Niccolini
"Loss of phosphodiesterase 10A signalling is associated with progression and severity in patients with Parkinson’s disease"

3rd Place: Mandy Drabe
"Serotonin transporter (SERT) gene methylation is associated with in vivo SERT availability and body-mass-index (BMI) in obese subjects"

2013

1st Place: David Owen
"Determination of [11C]PBR28 binding potential in vivo: A first human TSPO occupancy study"

2nd Place: Peter Werner
"Feasibility of combined [15O]H2O-PET/MRI in patients with acute stroke"

3rd Place: Jussi Hirvonen
"Decreased cannabinoid CB1 receptor binding in tobacco smokers examined with positron emission tomography"

2012

1st Place: Rik Ossenkoppele
"Increased parietal amyloid burden and metabolic dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease with early onset"

2nd Place: Ansel Hillmer
"Quantitative analysis of [18F]nifene kinetics in the nonhuman primate"

3rd Place: Axel Rominger
"Longitudinal assessment of cerebral amyloid-β deposition in APP-Swe mice with [18F]florbetaben PET"

2011

1st Place: Stefan Förster
"Regional expansion of hypometabolism and amyloid deposition in AD and their relation to functional connectivity networks in healthy controls"

2nd Place: Jussi Hirvonen
"Reversible and regionally selective downregulation of brain cannabinoid CB1 receptors in chronic daily cannabis smokers"

3rd Place: Jenna Sullivan
"Bolus vs. bolus/infusion of the mGluR5 tracer [18F]FPEB in humans"

2010

1st Place: Sjoerd Finnema
Confirmation of fenfluramine effect on 5-HT1B binding of [11C]AZ10419369 using an equilibrium approach.

2nd Place: Marc Normandin
Test-retest reproducibility and gender differences in binding of CB1 PET tracer [11C]OMAR in humans.

3rd Place: Vikas Kotagal
REM sleep behavior disorder is associated with cortical cholinergic deficit in Parkinson’s disease without dementia.

2009

1st Place: Karine Madsen
#16 Age and gender affect 5-HT4 receptor binding: A brain PET study in healthy volunteers with [11C]SB207145

2nd Place: Jonas Hannestad
#14 Duration and Degree of Norepinephrine Transporter Occupancy by Oral Methylphenidate with (S,S)-[11C]MRB in Healthy Subjects

3rd Place: Jitka Sojkova
#19 Longitudinal patterns of amyloid deposition in nondemented elderly