Orit Jacobson Weiss, Ph.D.
- Center for Cancer Research
- National Cancer Institute
- Building 10, Room 1B55
- Bethesda, MD 20892
- 240-858-7517
- orit.jacobsonweiss@nih.gov
RESEARCH SUMMARY
Dr. Orit Jacobson Weiss specializes in radiochemistry and molecular imaging. Her career has been dedicated to the innovation and improvement of imaging agents, many of which have been successfully implemented in clinical settings for both diagnostic purposes and radiotherapy treatments. Dr. Jacobson Weiss and her team’s focus on two main areas: discovering new imaging targets for cancer and tumor microenvironment and developing cutting-edge imaging agents. These agents are designed to have dual purposes - diagnostic imaging tools as well as targeted radiotherapy.
Areas of Expertise
Biography
Orit Jacobson Weiss, Ph.D.
Dr. Jacobson Weiss, an international renowned scientist in the field of a radiochemistry and molecular imaging, earned her Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, focusing on novel PET tracers for tumor receptor imaging. She did her postdoctoral work at NIBIB/NIH on development of imaging tracers for chemokine and prokineticin receptors, and two of her CXCR4 PET tracers successfully translated to clinical studies. After her postdoctoral, she returned to Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem, where she led the radiochemistry and chemistry group of the cyclotron unit, overseeing both clinical production of PET tracers and research. A few years later, she returned to NIBIB/NIH as a staff scientist, developing new radiotracers and labeling methods for various biomolecules. Her recent breakthrough, DMEB, enhances blood half-life and tumor uptake, improving imaging and therapeutic outcomes while reducing required radioactivity doses. Three DMEB derivatives, which were patented by the NIH, targeting SSTR2 for neuroendocrine tumors, PSMA for prostate cancer and RGD for various alpha-V beta-3 expressing cancers have shown promising clinical results when labeled with Lu-177 and were licensed out. In October 2023, Dr. Jacobson Weiss joined the Molecular Imaging Branch at NCI, where she now leads a team focused on developing tracers with improved their pharmacokinetics. Her ongoing work continues to seek and develop new tracers for cancer imaging and radiotherapy, holding the potential to significantly advance personalized cancer diagnosis and treatment strategies.
Team
Research
Orit Jacobson research primarily revolves around two core domains. First, she is dedicated to creating innovative imaging and radiotherapeutic agents designed to target both established and recently identified markers found in cancer and stromal cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME). Dr. Jacobson Weiss aims to translate these effective tracers into clinical trials. Her second core focus is improving the pharmacokinetics of both existing and newly developed drugs, tracers, and radiotherapeutics to widen their therapeutic effectiveness.