Isotopic Labeling of Biotherapeutics
HORIZON EUROPE - MSCA - DN - 2021 #101072780 01-02-2023 to 31-01-2027
ISOBIOTICS Doctoral Students Comic Series: Communicating Science Through Storytelling
Episode 2 – Fluorine-18
In this episode, Doctoral Candidates Tobias and Alfonso call upon the Fluorine-18 superdetective to investigate a critical “crime scene”: a body where cancer may be hiding.
Fluorine-18 is a radioactive isotope acting as a master detective, operating under high pressure due to its very short half-life of just under two hours. Its true superpower is positron emission: as it decays, it releases energetic particles that allow physicians to visualize processes deep inside the body.
In the lab, Doctoral Candidates Esther and Malamatenia equip Fluorine-18 with specialized molecular “vehicles” such as glucose analogues or modified proteins : to guide it through the bloodstream and help locate metabolically active cancer cells.
Can Fluorine-18 identify all the cancer cells before its time runs out?
👉 Discover the second episode below and stay tuned for the final episode of the ISOBIOTICS comic series.
_edite.jpg)
Interested in sharing or reading the comic in full resolution?
Illustration by Alessandra Alyah Patané
The ISOBIOTICS project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (Grant Agreement No. 101072780).