Kiran Solingapuram Sai, PhD, Receives SNMMI Mars Shot Research Fund Award

Reston, VA (March 20, 2026)--The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) is pleased to announce that Kiran Solingapuram Sai, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Radiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been selected as the recipient of the Steven Larson Named Lecture on Advanced Nuclear Medicine Research award from the 2026 Mars Shot Fund. Sai's grant was awarded based on his proposal, "Microtubule PET imaging in healthy older adults."

The Larson Award was established in 2025 to recognize and support groundbreaking research by nuclear medicine physicians, radiochemists, and medical physicists. Award recipients receive a $10,000 grant to further their individual research and participate in the Steven Larson lecture at the SNMMI Annual Meeting.

Alzheimer's disease affects more than 30 million individuals worldwide; a number that is projected to rise fourfold by 2050. Key hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease include the buildup of beta-amyloid plaques and tau proteins in the brain. The destabilization of microtubules polymers that are critical for neuronal transport, signaling, and synaptic integrity is closely associated with beta-amyloid and tau pathology and is increasingly recognized to be an early and pivotal event in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis.

"A PET radiotracer that can bind to destabilized microtubules would allow physicians to noninvasively detect microtubule dysfunction early in the development of Alzheimer's disease," said Sai. "This research will help to enable quantitative imaging of this mechanistically relevant target to help guide early intervention strategies in clinical settings."

In the study, Sai and colleagues will investigate a first-in-class PET radiotracer, [¹¹C]MPC-6827, designed through advanced radiochemistry to selectively bind destabilized microtubules. They will establish metabolic and kinetic modeling for [¹¹C]MPC-6827 in healthy adult volunteers with the goal of generating a reproducible imaging and quantification framework.

Kiran Solingapuram Sai, PhD

Sai's research focuses on translating PET radiotracers from bench to bedside, specifically developing and evaluating first-in-class PET radiotracers for imaging novel imaging biomarkers including microtubules, G-protein coupled receptor 39, 119 to facilitate the early detection of Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. He holds a BS in chemistry, biochemistry, and microbiology, as well as an MS in organic chemistry from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. He received his PhD in organic chemistry from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, and completed his postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine.

Established in 2023, the SNMMI Mars Shot Research Fund is a forward-looking glimpse into the future of nuclear medicine. It provides resources that translate visionary nuclear medicine imaging, radiopharmaceutical therapy, and data science research or projects into tools or treatments that will help improve the lives of patients.

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About the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) is an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine, molecular imaging, and theranostics precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. For more information, visit snmmi.org.