Radionuclide development
The aim of this group is to develop and supply non-conventional radionuclides to the medical community.
Radioisotope development at ANSTO is focused on the preparation of medically relevant radioisotopes such as 177Lu, 64Cu, 77As, 68Ga, and 57Co for incorporation into radiopharmaceuticals useful for SPECT, PET imaging and endo-radiotherapy.
Researchers within this area aim to support the radiopharmaceutical developments at ANSTO with the on-site supply of non-conventional medical radionuclides which are commercially unavailable in sufficient activity and right forms (radioactive concentration, solution composition or radiochemical compound) for inclusion into radiopharmaceuticals. Moreover, our non-conventional radionuclide supply for clinical or medical research applications encourages the support for new radiopharmaceutical development and clinical trials.
Radiochemistry and separation science: Radionuclide generators, specific sorbent materials for radiochemical separation, separation techniques and process automation.
Clockwise: Programmable chromatographic separation apparatus for
radionuclide separation; Solid phase extraction (SPE) resin ( OASIS-E30RS)
and its characteristics for lanthanide radionuclide separation;
Separation chromatogram of 177Lu/176Yb pare using SPE resin
OASIS-E30RS 177Lu production flow chart and diagrams;
Our project leader, Dr. Le Van So at work.
Expertise in theoretical and practical targetry, radiochemical separation techniques and hot cell technology combined with collective technical resources existing in ANSTO has led to our project’s high outcomes and reliability in high quality radioactive products.
Development of radiochemical separation methods based on newly developed solid phase extraction (SPE) resin for lanthanide metal radionuclides is one of our achievements. It is effectively used for 177Lu radionuclide production. See more details about our contribution in the following publication:
J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., Vol.277, No. 3, 651-661 (2008)
Inorganic sorbents such as polymeric zirconium- and titanium-oxychloride compounds (PZC & PTC) and high performance inorganic ion exchangers/sorbents (ZiSorb, TiSorb and Stanosorb) are being developed for preparation of the medically useful radionuclide generators 99Mo/99mTc, 188W/188Re and 68Ge/68Ga.
See more details about our contribution in the following publications:
Theoretical assessment and optimisation for the 176Lu ( n, gamma)
177Lu reaction based 177Lu production using high neutron flux OPAL reactor;
188W/188Re generator development using a new high adsorption-elution
performance sorbent PTC-sorb.
Preparation of inorganic polymer sorbents and their application in the radionuclide generator technology, In ‘Therapeutic Radionuclide Generators: 90Sr/90Y and 188W/188Re generators”, Chapter 20, IAEA-TRS-xxx, IAEA, Vienna (2008), in press ;
Polymeric titanium oxychloride sorbent for 188W/188Re nuclide pair separation, (Manuscript 3598, accepted on 8 August, 2008)
Separation Science and Technology, 2009
By exploiting the high neutron flux of the OPAL reactor, we are conducting the development of new alternative processes for the production of key radioisotopes such as 99mTc and 188Re to ensure a back-up supply in case of an incident occurring in a current production processes (e.g the fission Mo-99 production line).