Molecular imaging is a powerful tool for non-invasively cancer diagnosis. Dual-modality probes possess a radioactive luminophore and a near-infrared fluorescence, allowing pre-operative imaging and real-time surgical guidance for better treatment of cancer patients. The introduction of two imaging modalities on the same molecule makes the drug development less expensive than that of two individual single-modality probes. We herein focus on the development of novel dual-modality imaging agents, which facilitate the rapid labeling of diverse biomolecules. 

Peptoids are peptide-mimetics that have versatile biological applications. The ease of synthesis and the highly variable structures make them attractive for use in library screening of new drug candidates. Our laboratory will develop the new peptoid-based compound library to discover new carbonic anhydrase IX-inhibitors. The new compounds will be further used as biovector for generating novel dual-modality probes to image tumor hypoxia.