Pablo Rusjan

Dr. Pablo Rusjan is an independent senior scientist at the Research Imaging Centre at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH-RIC). Dr. Rusjan 's expertise is in positron emission tomography (PET) pharmacokinetics and quantitative methodology development and implementation for PET images. Dr. Rusjan has a background in theoretical physical chemistry and his research focused on the quantitation of proteins in the human brain using PET. This comprises a spectrum of interests of each step involved in PET, including the initial use of novel radioligands in-vivo, the acquisition and post-processing of blood and imaging data, understanding the pharmacokinetics of each radioligand, the development and implementation of novel quantitative methods, and the application to clinical studies to explore disease progression and treatment options. His work for the last 16 years involved finding appropriate solutions to overcome challenges associated with PET imaging.

Dr. Rusjan received his undergraduate training in physics in the University of Buenos Aires. He did a MSc equivalent thesis and a PhD thesis on chemical reactivity in fluid media using computer simulations at the National Atomic Energy Commission Argentina (CNEA by its Spanish acronym). After a specialization in computer vision and a professional experience using mathematical models to evaluate the financial feasibility of transportation megaprojects, he immigrated to Canada in 2003 where he joined the University of Toronto. His initial work involved the development of a software suite for PET image analysis which implements a robust and consistent strategy solution with built-in audit trails, and pre-specified QC points where the analyst is required to inspect results for accuracy and highlights any problems in analyses. This imaging pipeline is used not only by all scientists at CAMH-RIC but also in other institutions across the world.

Select Publications

Rusjan P, Mamo D, Ginovart N, Hussey D, Vitcu I, Yasuno F, Tetsuya S, Houle S, Kapur S. An automated method for the extraction of regional data from PET images. Psychiatry Research. 2006 Jun 30;147(1):79-89. PubMed PMID: 16797168.

Rusjan PM, Wilson AA, Miler L, Fan I, Mizrahi R, Houle S, Vasdev N, Meyer JH. Kinetic modeling of the monoamine oxidase B radioligand [¹¹C]SL25.1188 in human brain with high-resolution positron emission tomography. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism. 2014 May; 34(5):883-9. PubMed PMID: 24517979.

Rusjan PM, Wilson AA, Mizrahi R, Boileau I, Chavez SE, Lobaugh NJ, Kish SJ, Houle S, Tong J. Mapping human brain fatty acid amide hydrolase activity with PET. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism. 2013 Mar; 33(3):407-14. PubMed PMID: 23211960.

Rusjan PM, Wilson AA, Bloomfield PM, Vitcu I, Meyer JH, Houle S, Mizrahi R. Quantitation of translocator protein binding in human brain with the novel radioligand [18F]-FEPPA and positron emission tomography. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism. 2011 Aug; 31(8):1807-16. PubMed PMID: 21522163.

Appointments

Department of Psychiatry
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology