---
title: About
date: 2026-09-10
source_url: https://vrakalab.science/about/
---


![Chrysoula Vraka presenting](/images/speaking_chrysoula_vraka.jpg "Chrysoula Vraka presenting her research")

## Research interests

My research focuses on understanding the pharmacokinetic properties of radiotracers to accelerate and improve drug development in neuroscience and cancer, from bench to bedside, with a particular focus on the [Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB)](/pubs/blood_brain_prediction/).

Building on this background, my current work centers on whole-body tracer imaging of the organ axes linking lymphoid organs and disease sites under chronic mental stress:

- We have established several mouse stress models to investigate how chronic stress contributes to poor immune surveillance, patient outcome, prognosis, and immunotherapy response.
- Within an international consortium (**[EPILUCAFS](https://radiologie-nuklearmedizin.meduniwien.ac.at/en/our-departments/division-of-nuclear-medicine/science-and-research/experimentelle-nuklearmedizin/)**), we are investigating epigenetic drivers of cancer-associated fibroblasts in chronic stress and immunosuppression in lung cancer over the next three years.
- We perform image-based metabolic phenotyping of KRAS-driven lung cancer mouse models using positron emission tomography (PET).
- To overcome the limited spatial resolution of PET, we established **[RadioFlow](/pubs/radioflo_cytometry/)**, a radioactive cell-sorting technique, to understand immune cell metabolism and metabolite competition within the tumour microenvironment and lymphoid organs.
- Combining total-body PET with molecular biology techniques, we aim to identify new biomarkers and understand the mechanisms underlying chronic stress disorders and tissue microenvironments.

In 2023–2024 and again in 2025, I was a visiting scientist at the [CRUK Scotland Institute](https://www.crukscotlandinstitute.ac.uk/) (Glasgow, UK), affiliated with the [University of Glasgow's Molecular Imaging Group](https://www.crukscotlandinstitute.ac.uk/cruk-si-research/cruk-si-research-groups/david-lewis-molecular-imaging.html) led by David Y. Lewis, to deepen my expertise in immune-metabolism and molecular techniques and to build international collaboration.

## Techniques, methods & infrastructure

**Radiotracer development & imaging**
- Radiolabeling (PET, SPECT, Therapeutics)
- Preclinical imaging (µPET/µCT)
- Metabolic, cancer, and neuro imaging
- Imaging organ-axis / organ-crosstalk

**Drug development & pharmacokinetics**
- In vitro ADME techniques: [lipophilicity](/pubs/logp/), permeability, plasma protein binding, distribution, and metabolism
- Cell culture: co-culture models, real-time kinetic assays, binding studies
- Autoradiography and ex vivo/in vitro metabolism and biodistribution studies
- In vivo radio-metabolite analysis and plasma protein binding for kinetic modeling (human and animal studies)

**In vivo models & molecular biology**
- Stress mouse models
- RadioFlow
- Molecular biology techniques (wetlab)

## Grants

**[Chronic stress and immunosuppression in lung cancer: focus on epigenetic drivers in cancer-associated fibroblasts (EPILUCAFS)](https://transcan.eu/output-results/funded-projects/epilucafs.kl)** (2024)
Funding: EU, [TRANSCAN-3](https://transcan.eu)
Role: Principal Investigator

## Join the lab

> We welcome inquiries from motivated Master's students, PhD candidates, and postdoctoral researchers interested in radiotracer development, PET/SPECT imaging, or the biology of chronic stress in cancer. If our research resonates with your interests, get in touch to discuss opportunities.

## Contact

**Dr.rer.nat. Chrysoula Vraka, MSc**
Principal Investigator (PI), Vraka Lab
Research Associate (Postdoc), Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy (Clinical Division of Nuclear Medicine)
Core team member, [Experimental Nuclear Medicine](https://radiologie-nuklearmedizin.meduniwien.ac.at/en/our-departments/division-of-nuclear-medicine/science-and-research/experimentelle-nuklearmedizin/) (Head: Prof. Cécile Philippe)

[Medical University of Vienna (MUW)](https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/en/) — Spitalgasse 23, 1090 Wien, Österreich

T: +43 1 40400 58720
E: [chrysoula.vraka@meduniwien.ac.at](mailto:chrysoula.vraka@meduniwien.ac.at)
LinkedIn: [chrysoula-vraka-452235173](https://linkedin.com/in/chrysoula-vraka-452235173)