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Researchers report fastest purification of astatine-211 needed for targeted cancer therapy
Astatine-211 recovery from bismuth metal using a chromatography system. Unlike bismuth, astatine-211 forms chemical bonds with ketones.
In a recent study, Texas A&M University researchers have described a new process to purify astatine-211, a promising radioactive isotope for targeted cancer treatment. Unlike other elaborate purification methods, their technique can extract astatine-211 from bismuth in minutes rather than hours, which can greatly reduce the time between production and delivery to the patient.
“Astatine-211 is currently under evaluation as a cancer therapeutic in clinical trials. But the problem is that the supply chain for this element is very limited because only a few places worldwide can make it,” said Jonathan Burns, research scientist in the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Nuclear Engineering and Science Center. “Texas A&M University is one of a handful of places in the world that can make astatine-211, and we have delineated a rapid astatine-211 separation process that increases the usable quantity of this isotope for research and therapeutic purposes.”
The researchers added that this separation method will bring Texas A&M one step closer to being able to provide astatine-211 for distribution through the Department of Energy’s Isotope Program’s National Isotope Development Center as part of the University Isotope Network.
Details on the chemical reaction to purify astatine-211 are in the journal Separation and Purification Technology.
J. Ongena, A. M. Messiaen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 2 | February 2006 | Pages 425-440
Technical Paper | Plasma and Fusion Energy Physics - Fusion Reactor Issues | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1142
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The total amount of heating power coupled to the plasma Ptot and the energy confinement time are determining parameters for realizing the plasma conditions suitable for the reactor. We recall that the ignition condition can be expressed by the following condition on the triple fusion product :NT = Ptot2/3 Vol = 3N2T2Vol/Ptot > (NT)ignition (1)with T ~= 15keVwhere = E/Ptot is the energy confinement time, E = 3NT Vol for an isothermal plasma with Ti = Te = T and a plasma volume Vol; N is the plasma density. The value T ~= 15 keV corresponds to the minimum value of (NT)ignition as a function T (see Fig. 1). In the present discussion for the sake of simplicity, we neglect density and temperature profile factors. The heating power in most of the present experiments is given by Ptot = POH + Padd where POH is the ohmic power and Padd is the additional heating due to neutral beam injection or R.F. heating. At ignition, the additional heating power must come completely from the energetic particles produced by the fusion reactions and we must have Ptot = P if we neglect the residual POH and the plasma losses by Bremsstrahlung (PBr [is proportional to] N2T1/2).