225-Actinium production at TRIUMF: combining physics, engineering, and chemistry for medicine

Event Date:
2020-07-16T16:00:00
2020-07-16T17:00:00
Event Location:
Connect via zoom
Speaker:
Andrew Robertson (UBC)
Related Upcoming Events:
Intended Audience:
Undergraduate
Local Contact:

Douglas Scott

Event Information:

225Ac is an alpha-emitting radionuclide that has shown remarkable potential for use in targeted alpha therapy of late stage metastatic diseases, most notably prostate cancer. However, 225Ac-radiopharmaceutical development remains limited by the insufficient availability of the radionuclide, despite multiple efforts to increase 225Ac supply via alternative methods that avoid the use of nuclear weapons material. Accelerator-based methods are a potential alternative, with TRIUMF’s 500-MeV cyclotron uniquely positioned to produce substantial quantities of 225Ac via thorium irradiation that do not contain undesirable 227Ac impurities. In this talk I will discuss TRIUMF’s ongoing efforts to produce 225Ac, with a focus on the current state of the technology and the physical science foundation behind it. This foundation combines topics from multiple disciplines, but will be presented from the perspective of a physicist (who by accident now does a lot of chemistry). Topics include the design and modelling of thorium proton-targets, nuclear reaction cross-section measurements, high-energy particle transport simulations, chemical purification methods, and analytical techniques for determining product quality.

Add to Calendar 2020-07-16T16:00:00 2020-07-16T17:00:00 225-Actinium production at TRIUMF: combining physics, engineering, and chemistry for medicine Event Information: 225Ac is an alpha-emitting radionuclide that has shown remarkable potential for use in targeted alpha therapy of late stage metastatic diseases, most notably prostate cancer. However, 225Ac-radiopharmaceutical development remains limited by the insufficient availability of the radionuclide, despite multiple efforts to increase 225Ac supply via alternative methods that avoid the use of nuclear weapons material. Accelerator-based methods are a potential alternative, with TRIUMF’s 500-MeV cyclotron uniquely positioned to produce substantial quantities of 225Ac via thorium irradiation that do not contain undesirable 227Ac impurities. In this talk I will discuss TRIUMF’s ongoing efforts to produce 225Ac, with a focus on the current state of the technology and the physical science foundation behind it. This foundation combines topics from multiple disciplines, but will be presented from the perspective of a physicist (who by accident now does a lot of chemistry). Topics include the design and modelling of thorium proton-targets, nuclear reaction cross-section measurements, high-energy particle transport simulations, chemical purification methods, and analytical techniques for determining product quality. Event Location: Connect via zoom