SNMMI and PCF Award $600,000 to Young Investigators Advancing Next-Generation Radiopharmaceutical and Combination Therapies for Prostate Cancer
Key Insights
Kondapa Naidu Bobba, PhD, and George Diehl, PhD, each receive Young Investigator Awards from SNMMI and PCF totaling $600,000 to advance prostate cancer research.
Dr. Bobba's work focuses on developing novel radiopharmaceutical platforms that overcome PSMA (search) heterogeneity and off-target toxicities in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (search).
Dr. Diehl's research explores a first-in-field combination strategy pairing B7-H3 (search) CAR-T therapy with 177Lu-PSMA-617 to potentially induce long-lasting remissions.
The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (search) (SNMMI) and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (search) (PCF) have announced an additional $600,000 in Young Investigator Awards to two early-career researchers pursuing innovative therapeutic strategies for advanced prostate cancer. Kondapa Naidu Bobba, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and George Diehl, PhD, postdoctoral associate at the University of Pittsburgh, were selected to receive the prestigious awards, which aim to accelerate the translation of next-generation radiopharmaceutical and combination therapies into clinical practice.
The announcement, made July 14, 2026, expands the organizations' investment in the next generation of scientific discovery following the first Young Investigator Award announced in March. Together, the SNMMI Mars Shot Fund and PCF are supporting three Young Investigator Awards in 2026, for a total commitment of $900,000.
"Supporting the next generation of researchers is central to PCF's mission to accelerate progress in prostate cancer research," said Gina Carithers, President and CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation (search). "We're proud to continue our partnership with SNMMI to help advance discoveries that will improve patient outcomes."
Overcoming Resistance in Radiopharmaceutical Therapy
Dr. Bobba's award, a three-year, $225,000 grant, will support his laboratory's work developing next-generation radiopharmaceutical therapies for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (search) (mCRPC). His research addresses a critical limitation of current radiopharmaceutical approaches.
"Current radiopharmaceutical therapies provide robust tumor control and survival advantages; however, their efficacy is limited by heterogeneous PSMA (search) expression, PSMA-negative or PSMA-low disease, and off-target toxicities," Bobba explained. "These challenges underscore the urgent need for novel targets and radiopharmaceutical platforms, such as the one we are developing, that overcome resistance and improve safety."
His team is designing therapeutic agents that better target prostate tumors while minimizing damage to healthy tissue, an approach that could meaningfully improve treatment options for patients with advanced disease. The award also marks the first SNMMI-funded radiopharmaceutical therapy research project within UT Knoxville's Department of Nuclear Engineering.
The collaboration that helped make Dr. Bobba's award possible began at the inaugural Tennessee Statewide Cancer Collaborative Scientific Meeting in Nashville, where he met Wei Li, PhD, distinguished professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and director of the Drug Discovery Center at UT Health Sciences, and Jonathan Wall, PhD, assistant dean for Research in the College of Medicine – Knoxville and director of the Amyloidosis and Cancer Theranostics Program. Drs. Li and Wall later wrote letters of support for the grant application and served as mentors throughout the process.
A First-in-Field Combination Strategy
Dr. Diehl's research takes a mechanistically driven approach to combination therapy. His proposal seeks to overcome critical barriers to effective and durable treatment for advanced prostate cancer by developing a novel strategy that pairs B7-H3 (search) CAR-T therapy with 177Lu-PSMA-617.
"This proposal is significant because it seeks to overcome critical barriers to effective and durable treatment for advanced prostate cancer by developing a novel, mechanistically driven combination strategy," Diehl noted. "The work will support initiating a first-in-field clinical trial combining B7-H3 (search) CAR-T therapy with 177Lu-PSMA-617, potentially inducing long-lasting remissions in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (search)."
Building the Next Generation of Scientific Leaders
The PCF Young Investigators program has awarded over $100 million for more than three decades to over 500 researchers who have made important advancements in prostate cancer research while developing the next generation of scientific leaders.
"These two awards reflect our commitment to backing bold, early-career science that can change what's possible for patients with advanced prostate cancer," said SNMMI Mars Shot Fund Co-Chair Munir Ghesani, associate professor of radiology and neurosurgery at Mount Sinai in New York.
"Nuclear medicine and molecular imaging are transforming prostate cancer care," said Phillip Koo, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the Prostate Cancer Foundation (search). "These awards recognize promising investigators whose research has the potential to improve how we detect and treat prostate cancer."
Richard Wahl, MD, professor at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology and SNMMI Mars Shot Fund Chair, added: "We're delighted to partner with PCF to help bring the next generation of nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and theranostics innovation closer to the clinic."
The 2nd Annual Tennessee Statewide Cancer Collaborative Scientific Meeting, where Dr. Bobba's pivotal collaboration began, is scheduled for August 31 and September 1, 2026, at the Hutton Hotel in Nashville, with organizers hoping to catalyze the next research partnership that leads to a breakthrough.