EP#392: Radioactive Drugs and Robots

Matt has been teaching Robotics and Embedded Systems at the University of Advancing Technology since 2019. Before that, he worked in the pharmaceutical Industry for 15 years, primarily for Cardinal Health where he made radiopharmaceuticals (radioactive drugs) and worked as the Quality Unit in production for seven years, before switching to R&D as a Senior Principal Scientist.

Guests:

• Matthew Prater from the University of Advancing Technology

Increasing the dosage

• Matt on how he began making radiopharmaceuticals
• Going from manufacturing five to thousands of doses a day
• Programming robotics…with an Excel sheet?
• Enviable synthesis machines

Up Late to Fight Cancer

• Baking radioactive fluorine
• Cancer cells that eat and make babies
• Chemistry and Robots
• “$130,000 to go from 23 seconds to forever”
• Check flights to Fargo at 3 AM before drugs died
• House and ER and radioactivity and PET in cancer treatments
• Getting the fluorine carbon bond to happen where you want to
• A little bit of spicy sugar

The F-18 Radioactive Tracer

• Does F-18 spit out a proton?
• Giving up the graveyard shifts for R&D
• Cancer and hypoxia
• Working on Meds that Battle Alzheimer’s disease
• Drug trials and brain slides

Regs and Pigs

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Agreement States
• Storing radioactivity in a pig
• Oil pipelines made from trees
• Two terms for pigs that aren’t actually pigs

What’s the deal with the University of Advancing Technology?

• Red Blue Security Teams and serious competition
• The Automated Motorcycle Visor and Coffin Cases
• Virtual front row seats and concert drones
• An Empire 6C
• Not the end, the endotoxin
• Can you eat horseshoe crabs?

Summary/Takeaways:

• Matt’s fascinating background as a chemist and robotics and embedded systems provides him with a fascinating foothold in two worlds that intersect in intriguing ways
• Based on the hazardous materials involved, the pharmaceutical industry is at the forefront of robotics and software technology

Connect with Matthew Prater:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-prater-32b0727a
• UAT Faculty: https://www.uat.edu/faculty-at-university-of-advancing-technology
• MEP EP#193: Robots Have Fall Damage

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