DOE Isotope Program Highlights

News highlights from all participating national laboratories, university facilities, and other research institutions which feature work from the U.S. Department of Energy Isotope Program can be found here.

Concept of the automated system for remote dissolution of the irradiated bismuth target and astatine recovery in nitric acid media. Conceptual design by Evgeny Tereshatov, Texas A&M University Graphic Design by Nathan Clark, Office of Science, Communications and Public Affairs

Automated Nuclear Chemistry Boosts Astatine Production for Cancer Therapy

A team of researchers designed and tested an automated protocol aimed at reducing the At-211 processing procedure from dissolution of the irradiated target through column purification in just 20 minutes.
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Image courtesy of Mike Zach, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This electron microscope image shows spherical bismuth powder. Each particle in the photo is about the diameter of a human hair (approximately 60 micrometers).

Spherical Powders Enable New Applications for Metals

Free-flowing metal powders offer improvements for additive manufacturing, isotope production target fabrication, and more.
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Student working in the Texas A&M University lab processing astatine-211. Image courtesy of Texas A&M University.

New Understanding of Astatine’s Chemical Properties Will Aid Targeted Alpha Therapy for Cancer

Recently, scientists at Texas A&M University investigated astatine’s behavior when interacting with ion exchange and extraction chromatography resins.
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Image courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory Abstract representation of subcooled flow boiling modeled on experimental data collected for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Isotope Production Facility.

Deep Learning Model Developed to Optimize Isotope Production Target Cooling Systems

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Illustration by Christopher Orosco, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Illustration of the structure of the radium compound characterized in this research. Single crystal X-ray diffraction provided detailed information on the bonding of radium in an organic molecule for the first time.

A First Look Inside Radium’s Solid-State Chemistry

Researchers used single crystal X-ray diffraction to learn about the structure and bonding of a highly radioactive radium compound.
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Image courtesy of Bobba, K.N., et al., Evaluation of cerium/lanthanum-134 as a PET imaging theranostic pair for 225Ac alpha radiotherapeutics. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 64, 7 (2023). Radiopharmaceuticals based on cerium/lanthanum-134 have promise for prostate cancer imaging and therapy. At right, tumors show high tumor uptake of cerium-134. At left, a comparison of cerium-134 and actinium-225 shows a similar pattern of uptake in most tissues (note the tumor tissue on the leg).

Transforming Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment with Cerium/Lanthanum-134

Researchers advance the use of cerium/lanthanum-134 for medical scans in actinium-225 cancer therapy.
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Image courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory Depiction of a titanium-44/scandium-44 generator. The generator consists of a hydroxamate-based resin undergoing scandium-44 elution with hydrochloric acid.

Scientists Identify an Alternative System for Producing the Medical Isotope Scandium-44

An easy-to-use system can increase the availability of PET imaging agents to more patients.
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This image depicts a binding molecule delivering radium-223 to a cancer cell. Image courtesy of Adam Malin, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Capturing the Chemistry of Radium-223 for Cancer Treatment

Until now, there have been few efforts to get information on how radium binds with known chelators.
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Image courtesy of Jonathan Engle, University of Wisconsin. Summary of the production process for radioisotopes of scandium using recyclable, enriched calcium.

Researchers Improve Production for Short-Lived Scandium Radioisotopes

Hard to produce in quantities and purities appropriate for human use, scandium radioisotopes have potential for imaging cancer.
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The binding of At-211 with mono- and diketones with different bond strengths. Image courtesy of Jon Burns, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Tunable Bonds: A Step Towards Targeted At-211 Cancer Therapy

Scientists can tune the strength of astatine-211 bonds with chemicals called ketones, laying the groundwork for a new class of radiopharmaceuticals.
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