Location Westmont, Illinois, United States Regions Greater Chicago Area, Great Lakes, Midwestern US Gender Male
Prof Perkins has has worked in Medical Physics and Radiological Sciences at the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals for over 30 years, specialising in medical imaging and medical radiation physics.
He has extensive experience of nuclear medicine techniques and has used gamma scintigraphy to study drug delivery in patients
and healthy normal subjects. His work in gastrointestinal motility and a series of published studies examining the oesophageal transit of oral dose formulations has led to the development of tablets and capsules with reduced problems for swallowing. He was called to serve as an expert witness on a US litigation concerning the swallowing of oral dose forms in 2015.
His long standing use of nuclear probes for intra-operative work has led to involvement in the development of a high resolution hybrid imager for surgical and bedside applications. In collaboration with professor John Lees at the Space Research Centre at The University of Leicester he is working on novel hybrid imaging systems for intra-operative applications. He was a founder of Gamma Technologies Ltd. a joint spin-out company from the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham. This technology is currently licensed out to Serac Imaging Systems who are developing a high resolution hybrid imaging system.
Preveious collaborations between Prof Perkins group in radiological Sciences, Medical Physics & Clinical Engineering and clinical groups in at Nottingham University Hospitals have resulted in the detailed study of the use of targeted radionuclide therapies. A series of experimental and clinical studies have been carried out for the targeted treatment of cancer including a novel method of targeted radiotherapy for bladder cancer that is administered directly into the bladder using a simple urinary catheter. Previous work with monoclonal antibodies led to collaborations with the Group at St George's Hospital in Sydney, Australia where the Nottingham C595 antibody has been developed as a vector for the delivery of more potent alpha emitting radionuclides with high linear energy transfer with the aim of improving the effectiveness of targeted molecular radiotherapy.
In collaboration with the Department of Chemistry at the Open University Prof Perkins carried out some of the first in vivo imaging studies of radiolabelled aptamer complexes with the potential offer reduced immunogenicity and excellent tumour penetration. The use of aptamers as much smaller targeting agents offers several advantages. These molecules penetrate tumour much faster than whole antibodies, reach peak levels in the tumour earlier, and clear from the body faster, thereby reducing toxicity to healthy tissues. In addition, use of aptamers is expected to overcome the frequently encountered human anti-mouse antibody response as they are non-immunogenic, and their rapid uptake and faster clearance makes them extremely promising vehicles for cytotoxic and imaging agents to be delivered to tumour .
Prof Perkins directs the Nottingham university pre-clinical imaging facility SPOT and is currently collaborating in work in the assessment of pulmonary fibrosis, infection and the study of brown adipose tissue.
He is a past Vice President of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and past President of the British Nuclear Medicine Society and editor of the British journal, Nuclear Medicine Communications. He currently a Governor and Chair of the Research Strategy Board of Coeliac UK.
