Christer Halldin, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicinal Radiochemistry
Director of Karolinska Institutet PET Centre
Karolinska Institutet
A. Personal Statement
Halldin’s scientific research activities have since 1978 been focusing on the development of PET radioligands for the central nervous system and their applied use in translational imaging from animal to clinical use. Different important parameters as criterias for suitable radioligands have been studied such as lipophilicity, metabolism and brain penetration. In particular the development of receptor and transporter radioligands for the different dopamine subtypes and transporter has been studied as well as for the serotonin receptor subtypes but for other receptors as well. Besides in vivo PET also in vitro autoradiographic studies in post-mortem human brain sections have been applied for the new radioligands developed. Another important research area has been the development of tracers for measuring neurotransmitter release.
B. Positions and Honors
Positions
1984 Postdoctoral scientist in medicinal radiochemistry at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA
1985 Assistant professor in medicinal radiochemistry at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
1985 Associate professor in medicinal radiochemistry at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
2000 Professor in medicinal radiochemistry at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
2003 Director at Karolinska Institutet PET centre, Sweden
2005- Chairman and member of the Committee for Drug Development, EANM
2009-2015 Swedish PI for Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI), NEWMEDS on schizophrenia and depression
1993-1998 Swedish PI and Vice Chair for COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) B3
2000-2005 Swedish PI and Vice Chair for COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) B12
2011-2115 Swedish PI and Vice Chair for COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) TD1007
2005-2010 Swedish PI for DIMI (Diagnostics in Molecular Imaging)
2000-2004 Swedish PI for a Human Frontier Science Program Organization Grant
2012-2016 Swedish PI for INMIND (Imaging of Neuroinflammation in Neurodegenerative Diseases)
2016-2019 Swedish PI for ISOTOPICS (Istotopic Labeling for Drug Innovation)
Awards
1984 Bengt Lundqvist’s Memorial 1985 Sederholms Stipendium
1992 Marie Curie Award 1998 Radioactivity “100 Years”
1999 Best scientific paper “Springer Verlag 1998” 2001 Marie Curie Award
2005 Marie Curie Award 2009 Marie Curie Award
2011 Heikki Wendelin Award
C. Selected Peer-reviewed Publications
H-index according to Web of Science 2021-11-24: 78, 630 Original articles, Citation Report: 1163, Sum of citations: 26816
1. Fowler, J., R. MacGregor, A. Wolf, C. Arnett, S. Dewey, D. Schlyer, D. Christman, J. Logan, M. Smith, H. Sachs, S. Aquilonius, P. Bjurling, C. Halldin, P. Hartvig, K. Leenders, H. Lundqvist, L. Oreland, C.-G. Stålnacke and B. Långström (1987). “Mapping Human Brain Monoamine Oxidase A and B with 11C-Labeled Suicide Inactivators and PET.” Science 235: 481-485.
2. Braniste, V., M. Al-Asmakh, C. Kowal, F. Anuar, A. Abbaspour, M. Toth, A. Korecka, N. Bakocevic, L. Guan Ng, P. Kundu, B. Gulyas, C. Halldin, K. Hultenby, H. Nilsson, H. Herbert, V. BT, B. Diamond and S. Pettersson (2014). “The gut microbiota influences blood-brain barrier permeability in mice.” Science Translational Medicine 6(263): 263ra158.
3. Horder J, Andersson M, Mendez MA, Singh N, Tangen Ä, Lundberg J, Gee A, Halldin C, Veronese M, Bölte S, Farde L, Sementa T, Cash D, Higgins K, Spain D, Turkheimer F, Mick I, Selvaraj S, Nutt DJ, Lingford-Hughes A, Howes OD, Murphy DG, Borg J. GABAA receptor availability is not altered in adults with autism spectrum disorder or in mouse models. ScienceTranslational Medicine 2018 Oct 3;10(461).
4. Zeitler B, Froelich S, Marlen K, Shivak DA, Yu Q, Li D, Pearl JR, Miller JC, Zhang L, Paschon DE, Hinkley SJ, Ankoudinova I, Lam S, Guschin D, Kopan L, Cherone JM, Nguyen HB, Qiao G, Ataei Y, Mendel MC, Amora R, Surosky R, Laganiere J, Vu BJ, Narayanan A, Sedaghat Y, Tillack K, Thiede C, Gärtner A, Kwak S, Bard J, Mrzljak L, Park L, Heikkinen T, Lehtimäki KK, Svedberg MM, Häggkvist J, Tari L, Tóth M, Varrone A, Halldin C, Kudwa AE, Ramboz S, Day M, Kondapalli J, Surmeier DJ, Urnov FD, Gregory PD, Rebar EJ, Muñoz-Sanjuán I, Zhang HS. Allele-selective transcriptional repression of mutant HTT for the treatment of Huntington’s disease. Nature Medicine 2019 Jul; 25(7):1131-1142.
5. Lei Zhang, Christopher R. Butler, Kevin P. Maresca, Akihiro Takano, Sangram Nag, Zhisheng Jia, Ryosuke Arakawa, Justin R. Piro, Tarek Samad, Deborah L. Smith, Deane M. Nason, Steven O’Neil, Laura McAllister, Klaas Schildknegt, Patrick Trapa, Timothy J. McCarthy, Anabella Villalobos, Christer Halldin; Identification and Development of an Irreversible Monoacylglycerol Lipase (MAGL) Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Radioligand with High Specificity; Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2019 Volume: 62 Issue: 18 Pages: 8532-8543
6. Takano, A., V. Stepanov, B. Gulyas, R. Nakao, N. Amini, S. Miura, H. Kimura, T. Taniguchi and C. Halldin (2015). “Evaluation of a novel PDE10A PET radioligand [11C]T-773, in nonhuman primates: Brain and whole body PET and brain autoradiography.” Synapse 69: 345-355.
7. Stepanov, V., M. Svedberg, Z. Jia, R. Krasikova, L. Lemoine, N. Okamura, S. Furumoto, N. Mitsios, J. Mulder, B. Långström, A. Nordberg and C. Halldin (2017). “Development of [11C]/[3H]THK-5351 – A potential novel carbon- 11 tau imaging PET radioligand.” Nucl. Med. Biol. 46: 50-53.
8. McClure KF, P. D., Petersen D, Wei L, Xiao J, Londregan AT, Kamlet AS, Dechert-Schmitt AM, Raymer B, , C. D. Ruggeri RB, Limberakis C, Liras S, DaSilva-Jardine P, Dullea RG, Loria PM, Reidich B, Salatto CT, Eng H, and A. K. Kimoto E, King-Ahmad A, Scott D, Beaumont K, Chabot JR, Bolt MW, Maresca K, Dahl K, Arakawa R, Takano A, Halldin C. (10.1002/anie.201708744). “Liver-Targeted Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 Synthesis.” Angew.Chem.Int. Ed. 2017, 56,
9. Varnäs K, Stepanov V, Halldin C. Autoradiographic mapping of synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A in non-human primate and human brain. Synapse. 2020 Apr 7:e22157.
10. Nag S, Jia Z, Svedberg M, Jackson A, Ahmad R, Luthra S, Varnäs K, Farde L, Halldin C.; Synthesis and Autoradiography of Novel F-18 Labeled Reversible Radioligands for Detection of Monoamine Oxidase B.; ACS Chem Neurosci. 2020 Dec 16;11(24):4398-4404. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00631. Epub 2020 Dec 7.PMID: 33284012
D. Research Support
CHDI Christer Halldin (PI) 2012-01-01-to-2020-12-31
Imaging of phosphodiesterase 10 A (PDE10A) enzyme levels in the living human brain of Huntington´s disease patients and healthy controls with positron emission tomography. The goal is to establish the suitability of PDE10A enzyme as imaging marker for HD, to help designing clinical trials aimed at lowering mutated Huntingtin in the brain. Role: Principal Investigator
Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) Agneta Nordberg (PI) 2015-01-01-to-2018-12-31. New imaging biomarkers in early diagnosis and treatment of AD. Role: Co-Investigator
IMI, INMIND + industry contracts etc.
A. Personal Statement
Halldin’s scientific research activities have since 1978 been focusing on the development of PET radioligands for the central nervous system and their applied use in translational imaging from animal to clinical use. Different important parameters as criterias for suitable radioligands have been studied such as lipophilicity, metabolism and brain penetration. In particular the development of receptor and transporter radioligands for the different dopamine subtypes and transporter has been studied as well as for the serotonin receptor subtypes but for other receptors as well. Besides in vivo PET also in vitro autoradiographic studies in post-mortem human brain sections have been applied for the new radioligands developed. Another important research area has been the development of tracers for measuring neurotransmitter release.
B. Positions and Honors
Positions
1984 Postdoctoral scientist in medicinal radiochemistry at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA
1985 Assistant professor in medicinal radiochemistry at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
1985 Associate professor in medicinal radiochemistry at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
2000 Professor in medicinal radiochemistry at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
2003 Director at Karolinska Institutet PET centre, Sweden
2005- Chairman and member of the Committee for Drug Development, EANM
2009-2015 Swedish PI for Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI), NEWMEDS on schizophrenia and depression
1993-1998 Swedish PI and Vice Chair for COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) B3
2000-2005 Swedish PI and Vice Chair for COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) B12
2011-2115 Swedish PI and Vice Chair for COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) TD1007
2005-2010 Swedish PI for DIMI (Diagnostics in Molecular Imaging)
2000-2004 Swedish PI for a Human Frontier Science Program Organization Grant
2012-2016 Swedish PI for INMIND (Imaging of Neuroinflammation in Neurodegenerative Diseases)
2016-2019 Swedish PI for ISOTOPICS (Istotopic Labeling for Drug Innovation)
Awards
1984 Bengt Lundqvist’s Memorial 1985 Sederholms Stipendium
1992 Marie Curie Award 1998 Radioactivity “100 Years”
1999 Best scientific paper “Springer Verlag 1998” 2001 Marie Curie Award
2005 Marie Curie Award 2009 Marie Curie Award
2011 Heikki Wendelin Award
C. Selected Peer-reviewed Publications
H-index according to Web of Science 2021-11-24: 78, 630 Original articles, Citation Report: 1163, Sum of citations: 26816
1. Fowler, J., R. MacGregor, A. Wolf, C. Arnett, S. Dewey, D. Schlyer, D. Christman, J. Logan, M. Smith, H. Sachs, S. Aquilonius, P. Bjurling, C. Halldin, P. Hartvig, K. Leenders, H. Lundqvist, L. Oreland, C.-G. Stålnacke and B. Långström (1987). “Mapping Human Brain Monoamine Oxidase A and B with 11C-Labeled Suicide Inactivators and PET.” Science 235: 481-485.
2. Braniste, V., M. Al-Asmakh, C. Kowal, F. Anuar, A. Abbaspour, M. Toth, A. Korecka, N. Bakocevic, L. Guan Ng, P. Kundu, B. Gulyas, C. Halldin, K. Hultenby, H. Nilsson, H. Herbert, V. BT, B. Diamond and S. Pettersson (2014). “The gut microbiota influences blood-brain barrier permeability in mice.” Science Translational Medicine 6(263): 263ra158.
3. Horder J, Andersson M, Mendez MA, Singh N, Tangen Ä, Lundberg J, Gee A, Halldin C, Veronese M, Bölte S, Farde L, Sementa T, Cash D, Higgins K, Spain D, Turkheimer F, Mick I, Selvaraj S, Nutt DJ, Lingford-Hughes A, Howes OD, Murphy DG, Borg J. GABAA receptor availability is not altered in adults with autism spectrum disorder or in mouse models. ScienceTranslational Medicine 2018 Oct 3;10(461).
4. Zeitler B, Froelich S, Marlen K, Shivak DA, Yu Q, Li D, Pearl JR, Miller JC, Zhang L, Paschon DE, Hinkley SJ, Ankoudinova I, Lam S, Guschin D, Kopan L, Cherone JM, Nguyen HB, Qiao G, Ataei Y, Mendel MC, Amora R, Surosky R, Laganiere J, Vu BJ, Narayanan A, Sedaghat Y, Tillack K, Thiede C, Gärtner A, Kwak S, Bard J, Mrzljak L, Park L, Heikkinen T, Lehtimäki KK, Svedberg MM, Häggkvist J, Tari L, Tóth M, Varrone A, Halldin C, Kudwa AE, Ramboz S, Day M, Kondapalli J, Surmeier DJ, Urnov FD, Gregory PD, Rebar EJ, Muñoz-Sanjuán I, Zhang HS. Allele-selective transcriptional repression of mutant HTT for the treatment of Huntington’s disease. Nature Medicine 2019 Jul; 25(7):1131-1142.
5. Lei Zhang, Christopher R. Butler, Kevin P. Maresca, Akihiro Takano, Sangram Nag, Zhisheng Jia, Ryosuke Arakawa, Justin R. Piro, Tarek Samad, Deborah L. Smith, Deane M. Nason, Steven O’Neil, Laura McAllister, Klaas Schildknegt, Patrick Trapa, Timothy J. McCarthy, Anabella Villalobos, Christer Halldin; Identification and Development of an Irreversible Monoacylglycerol Lipase (MAGL) Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Radioligand with High Specificity; Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2019 Volume: 62 Issue: 18 Pages: 8532-8543
6. Takano, A., V. Stepanov, B. Gulyas, R. Nakao, N. Amini, S. Miura, H. Kimura, T. Taniguchi and C. Halldin (2015). “Evaluation of a novel PDE10A PET radioligand [11C]T-773, in nonhuman primates: Brain and whole body PET and brain autoradiography.” Synapse 69: 345-355.
7. Stepanov, V., M. Svedberg, Z. Jia, R. Krasikova, L. Lemoine, N. Okamura, S. Furumoto, N. Mitsios, J. Mulder, B. Långström, A. Nordberg and C. Halldin (2017). “Development of [11C]/[3H]THK-5351 – A potential novel carbon- 11 tau imaging PET radioligand.” Nucl. Med. Biol. 46: 50-53.
8. McClure KF, P. D., Petersen D, Wei L, Xiao J, Londregan AT, Kamlet AS, Dechert-Schmitt AM, Raymer B, , C. D. Ruggeri RB, Limberakis C, Liras S, DaSilva-Jardine P, Dullea RG, Loria PM, Reidich B, Salatto CT, Eng H, and A. K. Kimoto E, King-Ahmad A, Scott D, Beaumont K, Chabot JR, Bolt MW, Maresca K, Dahl K, Arakawa R, Takano A, Halldin C. (10.1002/anie.201708744). “Liver-Targeted Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 Synthesis.” Angew.Chem.Int. Ed. 2017, 56,
9. Varnäs K, Stepanov V, Halldin C. Autoradiographic mapping of synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A in non-human primate and human brain. Synapse. 2020 Apr 7:e22157.
10. Nag S, Jia Z, Svedberg M, Jackson A, Ahmad R, Luthra S, Varnäs K, Farde L, Halldin C.; Synthesis and Autoradiography of Novel F-18 Labeled Reversible Radioligands for Detection of Monoamine Oxidase B.; ACS Chem Neurosci. 2020 Dec 16;11(24):4398-4404. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00631. Epub 2020 Dec 7.PMID: 33284012
D. Research Support
CHDI Christer Halldin (PI) 2012-01-01-to-2020-12-31
Imaging of phosphodiesterase 10 A (PDE10A) enzyme levels in the living human brain of Huntington´s disease patients and healthy controls with positron emission tomography. The goal is to establish the suitability of PDE10A enzyme as imaging marker for HD, to help designing clinical trials aimed at lowering mutated Huntingtin in the brain. Role: Principal Investigator
Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) Agneta Nordberg (PI) 2015-01-01-to-2018-12-31. New imaging biomarkers in early diagnosis and treatment of AD. Role: Co-Investigator
IMI, INMIND + industry contracts etc.