Research Summary

Robert Flavell, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Section of Molecular Imaging in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College, and his PhD from the Rockefeller University as part of the Tri-Institutional MD PhD program. He completed his one-year internship at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Flavell completed a four-year diagnostic radiology residency at the University of California, San Francisco, where he also finished a Nuclear Medicine fellowship. In June 2016. he joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in Residence. Since 2019, he has been the Chief of the Division of Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics (formerly nuclear medicine), in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging.

Dr. Flavell’s laboratory focuses on the development of new molecular imaging and therapeutic tools for better understanding of disease progression in patients with prostate and other cancers. One area of interest is the relationship between acidic interstitial pH and disease progression, where he has developed new tools to directly image tumor pH using hyperpolarized 13C MRI and positron emission tomography (PET). Another major focus is the development of novel theranostic agents, where new therapies are paired with imaging agents against the same target. Dr. Flavell's research spans from basic chemistry and chemical biology projects, to translational and clinical studies.

Research Funding

  • May 1, 2023 - April 30, 2028 - Systematic evaluation of toxicity and therapeutic efficacy in CD46 directed radioligand therapy , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA279203
  • July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2027 - Development of CD46 theranostics for imaging and treatment of multiple myeloma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA271606
  • August 12, 2022 - July 31, 2026 - Molecular imaging of novel PARP inhibitor nanomedicine delivery , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA266666
  • September 17, 2021 - August 31, 2024 - ACE2-targeted PET radiotracers for investigating spatiotemporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 organ injury and therapy response. , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01AI161829
  • May 1, 2018 - January 31, 2022 - Application of hyperpolarized 13C interstitial pH imaging to risk stratification in prostate cancer , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R21EB026012

Education

Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, B.A., 1996-2000, Mathematics and chemistry
The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, laboratory of Dr. Tom W. Muir, PhD, 2002 - 2010, Peptide and protein chemistry, radiolabeling methods, and PET imaging
Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, MD, 2002 - 2010, Medicine
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 2010 - 2011, Transitional year intern
Dept of Radiology, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, 2011 - 2015, Diagnostic radiology residency
Dept of Radiology, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA 2015 - 2016, Nuclear medicine fellowship

Honors & Awards

  • 2000
    Honors for undergraduate thesis in chemistry, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
  • 2013
    Introduction to Academic Radiology Program, American Roentgen Ray Society
  • 2014
    Certificate of Merit, 2014 Radiology Society of North America meeting
  • 2014
    University of California, San Francisco catalyst program consultation award
  • 2015
    Radiology Society of North America, Roentgen Resident Research award
  • 2015
    Association of University Radiologists Research Scholar Program
  • 2015
    Certificate of Merit, Radiology Society of North America Meeting
  • 2016
    Runner up, Surbeck Scholar’s Award, University of California, San Francisco
  • 2017
    Howard S. Stern Research Award, Society of Abdominal Radiology
  • 2017
    Prostate Cancer Foundation David Blitzer Young Investigator Award
  • 2017
    New Directions in Prostate Cancer Award, Prostate Cancer Program, UCSF
  • 2018
    Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Future Leaders Academy
  • 2019
    Dean's Prize in Mentoring, University of California, San Francisco
  • 2020
    Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging "Ones to Watch"

Selected Publications

  1. Bidkar AP, Peter R, Wadhwa A, Bobba KN, Bidlingmaier S, Meher N, Chou J, Greenland N, Dasari C, Naik S, Raveendran A, Basak M, Camara Serrano JA, Steri V, Kogan S, Oskowitz A, He J, Wilson DM, Aggarwal R, Sriram R, VanBrocklin HF, Seo Y, Liu B, Flavell RR. Effective Treatment of Disseminated Prostate Cancer Using CD46-Targeted 225Ac Therapy. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Feb 13.  View on PubMed
  2. Meher N, Bidkar AP, Wadhwa A, Bobba KN, Dhrona S, Dasari C, Mu C, Fong COY, Cámara JA, Ali U, Basak M, Bulkley D, Steri V, Fontaine SD, Zhu J, Oskowitz A, Aggarwal RR, Sriram R, Chou J, Wilson DM, Seo Y, Santi DV, Ashley GW, VanBrocklin HF, Flavell RR. PET Imaging Using 89Zr-Labeled StarPEG Nanocarriers Reveals Heterogeneous Enhanced Permeability and Retention in Prostate Cancer. Mol Cancer Ther. 2025 Jan 02; 24(1):141-151.  View on PubMed
  3. Kandala AN, Wang S, Blecha JE, Wang YH, Lall RK, Niknejad AM, Seo Y, Evans MJ, Flavell RR, VanBrocklin HF, Anwar M. Millimeter-scale radioluminescent power for electronic sensors. iScience. 2025 Jan 17; 28(1):111686.  View on PubMed
  4. R. Lall, K.N. Bobba, A. Bidkar, Y. Seo, R. Flavell, A. Niknejad, M. Anwar. A Sparse Uncollimated ? Counter Network for In Vivo Dose Reconstruction in 225Ac-Based Targeted Alpha Therapy. International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics. 2024 Oct 1; 120(2):s109.  View on PubMed
  5. Yadav S, Lowery B, Tuchayi AM, Jiang F, Saelee R, Aggarwal RR, Juarez R, Flavell RR, Hope TA. Impact of Posttreatment SPECT/CT on Patient Management During 177Lu-PSMA-617 Radiopharmaceutical Therapy. J Nucl Med. 2024 Sep 03; 65(9):1395-1401.  View on PubMed
  6. Peter R, Bidkar AP, Bobba KN, Zerefa L, Dasari C, Meher N, Wadhwa A, Oskowitz A, Liu B, Miller BW, Vetter K, Flavell RR, Seo Y. 3D small-scale dosimetry and tumor control of 225Ac radiopharmaceuticals for prostate cancer. Sci Rep. 2024 08 27; 14(1):19938.  View on PubMed
  7. Caravaca J, Bobba KN, Du S, Peter R, Gullberg GT, Bidkar AP, Flavell RR, Seo Y. A Technique to Quantify Very Low Activities in Regions of Interest With a Collimatorless Detector. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2024 08; 43(8):2745-2757.  View on PubMed
  8. Diwanji D, Carrodeguas E, Seo Y, Kang H, Soe MH, Chiang JM, Zhang L, Liu C, Behr SC, Flavell RR. Comparative Uptake Patterns of Radioactive Iodine and [18F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in Metastatic Differentiated Thyroid Cancers. J Clin Med. 2024 Jul 06; 13(13).  View on PubMed
  9. Peluso MJ, Ryder D, Flavell RR, Wang Y, Levi J, LaFranchi BH, Deveau TM, Buck AM, Munter SE, Asare KA, Aslam M, Koch W, Szabo G, Hoh R, Deswal M, Rodriguez AE, Buitrago M, Tai V, Shrestha U, Lu S, Goldberg SA, Dalhuisen T, Vasquez JJ, Durstenfeld MS, Hsue PY, Kelly JD, Kumar N, Martin JN, Gambhir A, Somsouk M, Seo Y, Deeks SG, Laszik ZG, VanBrocklin HF, Henrich TJ. Tissue-based T cell activation and viral RNA persist for up to 2 years after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Sci Transl Med. 2024 Jul 03; 16(754):eadk3295.  View on PubMed
  10. Mu C, Liu X, Riselli A, Slater J, Escobar E, Dang D, Drapeau S, Delos Santos R, Andosca S, Nguyen H, Larson PEZ, Bok R, Vigneron DB, Kurhanewicz J, Wilson DM, Flavell RR. Protocol for producing hyperpolarized 13C-bicarbonate for clinical MRI of extracellular pH in aggressive tumors. STAR Protoc. 2024 Sep 20; 5(3):103091.  View on PubMed
  11. Jana D, Han Z, Huang X, Wadhwa A, Raveendran A, Ebeid K, Meher N, Flavell RR, Desai T. Enhanced Prostate-specific Membrane Antigen Targeting by Precision Control of DNA Scaffolded Nanoparticle Ligand Presentation. ACS Nano. 2024 Jul 02; 18(26):16674-16683.  View on PubMed
  12. Kline B, Yadav S, Seo Y, Ippisch RC, Castillo J, Aggarwal RR, Kelley RK, Behr SC, Flavell RR, Lawhn-Heath C, Melisko M, Rugo HS, Wang V, Yom SS, Ha P, Jiang F, Hope TA. 68Ga-FAP-2286 PET of Solid Tumors: Biodistribution, Dosimetry, and Comparison with 18F-FDG. J Nucl Med. 2024 Jun 03; 65(6):938-943.  View on PubMed
  13. Nonna Shakhnazaryan, Nathan Curry, Medini Rastogi, Daniel Avins, Shrina Pandey, Ivan de Kouchkovsky, Daniel Kwon, Arpita Desai, Kelly N. Fitzgerald, Rohit Bose, Jonathan Chou, Terence W. Friedlander, Vadim S Koshkin, Lawrence Fong, Maya Aslam, Khadija Siddiqua, Eric J. Small, Bin Liu, Robert R. Flavell, Rahul Raj Aggarwal. A phase 1b dose escalation study of FOR46, a novel antibody-drug conjugate targeting a tumor-specific epitope of CD46, in combination with enzalutamide (Enza) in patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2024 Jun 1; 42(16_suppl):5066-5066.  View on PubMed
  14. Meher N, Ashley GW, Bobba KN, Wadhwa A, Bidkar AP, Dasari C, Mu C, Sankaranarayanan RA, Serrano JAC, Raveendran A, Bulkley DP, Aggarwal R, Greenland NY, Oskowitz A, Wilson DM, Seo Y, Santi DV, VanBrocklin HF, Flavell RR. Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen Targeted StarPEG Nanocarrier for Imaging and Therapy of Prostate Cancer. Adv Healthc Mater. 2024 Jul; 13(19):e2304618.  View on PubMed
  15. Bidkar AP, Zerefa L, Yadav S, VanBrocklin HF, Flavell RR. Actinium-225 targeted alpha particle therapy for prostate cancer. Theranostics. 2024; 14(7):2969-2992.  View on PubMed
  16. Darryl Mar, Devan Diwanji, Blair Lowery, Li Zhang, Thomas A Hope, Spencer C Behr, Robert R Flavell. Pathologic outcome of incidentally detected tracer-avid lesions in 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT for prostate cancer. . 2024 Apr 30; umae008.  View on PubMed
  17. Alanizi AA, Sorlin AM, Parker MFL, López-Álvarez M, Qin H, Lee SH, Blecha J, Rosenberg OS, Engel J, Ohliger MA, Flavell RR, Wilson DM. Bioorthogonal Radiolabeling of Azide-Modified Bacteria Using [18F]FB-sulfo-DBCO. Bioconjug Chem. 2024 04 17; 35(4):517-527.  View on PubMed
  18. Diwanji D, Onishi N, Hathi DK, Lawhn-Heath C, Kornak J, Li W, Guo R, Molina-Vega J, Seo Y, Flavell RR, Heditsian D, Brain S, Esserman LJ, Joe BN, Hylton NM, Jones EF, Ray KM. 18F-FDG Dedicated Breast PET Complementary to Breast MRI for Evaluating Early Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy. Radiol Imaging Cancer. 2024 03; 6(2):e230082.  View on PubMed
  19. Wadhwa A, Wang S, Patiño-Escobar B, Bidkar AP, Bobba KN, Chan E, Meher N, Bidlingmaier S, Su Y, Dhrona S, Geng H, Sarin V, VanBrocklin HF, Wilson DM, He J, Zhang L, Steri V, Wong SW, Martin TG, Seo Y, Liu B, Wiita AP, Flavell RR. CD46-Targeted Theranostics for PET and 225Ac-Radiopharmaceutical Therapy of Multiple Myeloma. Clin Cancer Res. 2024 03 01; 30(5):1009-1021.  View on PubMed
  20. Sorlin AM, López-Álvarez M, Biboy J, Gray J, Rabbitt SJ, Rahim JU, Lee SH, Bobba KN, Blecha J, Parker MFL, Flavell RR, Engel J, Ohliger M, Vollmer W, Wilson DM. Peptidoglycan-Targeted [18F]3,3,3-Trifluoro-d-alanine Tracer for Imaging Bacterial Infection. JACS Au. 2024 Mar 25; 4(3):1039-1047.  View on PubMed

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