Short Bio
Jun Hatazawa is former Professor and Chair of Nuclear Medicine and Tracer Kinetics at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, and is appointed to President of Asia Oceania Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology from 2017 to 2021. He is engaged in the “Atoms for Medicine” project where nuclear energy is used for diagnostic imaging and targeted radionuclide therapy of cancer. This project covers radionuclide production with accelerator/reactor, purification of radionuclide, labelling biomolecules with radionuclides for targeting cells, dosimetry and safety, nuclear medicine education/training and practice, and disposal of medical radioactive waste. He is promoting this project in Asia Oceania nuclear medicine community and beyond. He is involved in establishing an education/training platform of human resource development in nuclear medicine in Japan by collaborating with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He is serving as a member of Standing Advisory Group of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, IAEA from 2018 to 2021.
Tele-ICU and the integration of AI technologies
Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is new radiotherapy to treat intractable cancers based on the external radiation of neutron, in vivo nuclear reaction of 10B (n, a) 7Li and high cancer cell killing effect of a and 7Li particles, and an evaluation of 10B concentration in target tumor and surrounding normal tissue with a PET/CT. The BNCT was initially conducted by means of nuclear reactor as a neutron source. It is now possible to employ an in-house accelerator in a hospital. The BNCT required cancer cell specific delivery of 10B, and 10B boronophenylalanine (BPA; INN : Borofalan(10B)) was developed as a 10B carrier agent. The PET tracer of 18F-FBPA was developed to estimate BPA concentration in tumors and normal tissue in a patient before the BNCT. For Unresectable, locally advanced or locally recurrent -head and neck cancer, the Phase II clinical trial was completed. The objective response rate was 71%, and overall survival at 2 years was 85%. The BNCT accelerator and Borofalan (10B) were approved by Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, Japan. In order to extend an application of BNCT, the clinical trials for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, recurrent malignant meningioma, malignant melanoma, and angiosarcoma are now on-going by means of BNCT accelerator and Borofalan (10B) in Japan.