MTIC

About Us

What is the Melbourne Theranostic Innovation Centre?

MTIC and our sister research & development entity, PreMIT,  in collaboration with our scientific and industry partnerships, provides unparalleled access to a combination of nuclear medicine technologies, therapeutics and innovative research. Together, we can provide more accurate diagnosis, individualised treatment planning, and the best possible outcomes for patients.

The Melbourne Theranostic Innovation Centre (MTIC) will deliver a paradigm-shift that embraces application of patient-centred precision medicine based on detailed characterisation of disease using a combination of advanced molecular imaging using state-of-the-art PET/CT technology (Siemens Quadra VISION PET/CT) and selective genomic analysis. Addressing the challenges of more advanced cancers will be a priority but detection of high-risk cancers at an earlier stage will also be enabled by availability of diagnostic approaches with superior sensitivity and specificity compared to current techniques.

Our patient-centered care model will provide options to patients in selecting the preferred next steps in their management. MTIC and PreMIT through its clinical and research activities aim to democratise theranostics by increasing access to, and reducing the developmental costs of novel treatment paradigms that would otherwise passed on to patients and Society.

By now operating in a nimble research & development environment with academic and corporate partners, the MTIC team have an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of their shared vision for addressing the unmet needs of cancer patients in clinical practice by developing and making available innovative diagnostic and game-changing therapeutic approaches. In partnership with highly-regarded clinicians and researchers in the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct, the Singapore Biopolis precinct and other planned sites, MTIC and PreMIT will be a global leader in theranostics. For further information on the emerging field of theranostics listen to Professor Hicks SAM Nordic webinars: Episode S01E01 & Episode S01E02.

Our broader research mission is to address unmet needs in healthcare, particularly in Oncology. This is a major global problem. One in two men and women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Cancer is the leading cause of death globally, accounting for an estimated 10 million deaths in 2020. In Australia, almost 50,000 cancer deaths were recorded in 2018 (https://www.who.int/data/gho). Although survival rates are improving slowly, quite simply, few with advanced cancer are cured. The OECD recognizes that progress towards fighting cancer needs to be monitored not only by mortality rates, but also by improving early detection of the disease and the increasing the effectiveness of treatment. In patients for whom curative options don’t currently exist, maintaining the best quality-of-life should rank at least as highly as prolongation of life.

Serious accompanying physical, emotional, and financial impacts are the norm in advanced cancer. Less than optimal cancer outcomes traumatise individuals and families, as they have to bear not only the burden of the disease, but also the acute and long-term side-effects and costs of treatment. The associated direct healthcare costs exceed $5.5 billion annually in Australia alone and are rising.

Precision Molecular Imaging and Theranostics (PreMIT)

Under the guidance of its prestigious Scientific Advisory Board, PreMIT integrates the latest developments in genomics and phenotypic characterisation of disease with advanced functional PET/CT imaging and nuclear medicine therapies.

PreMIT, in conjunction with its foundation partners in academia and industry, enable the key barriers to advancement of the theranostic paradigm to be overcome expeditiously and cost-effectively while also delivering a high quality of clinical services through MTIC.

Opportunities exist for researchers and companies to collaborate with PreMIT in the development and testing of PET radiopharmaceuticals and new theranostic paradigms.

View PreMIT Website
Our Difference

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Clinical Trials @ MTIC

Clinical Trials Targeting Range of Oncologic Indications at MTIC
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Professor Hicks featured

Nuclear Medicine Pioneer Launches Theranostics Center with Cutting-Edge Scanner
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New radiotracer for imaging melanoma

Melbourne Theranostic Innovation Centre performs the first-in-human use of a new radiotracer for imaging melanoma.
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