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Fusion Science and Technology
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Latest News
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.
S. Cirant, J. Berrino, P. Buratti, G. D'Antona, F. Gandini, G. Granucci, E. Iannone, E. Lazzaro, V. Mellera, V. Muzzini, P. Smeulders, O. Tudisco
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 53 | Number 1 | January 2008 | Pages 174-183
Technical Paper | Special Issue on Electron Cyclotron Wave Physics, Technology, and Applications - Part 2 | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1663
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The paper describes experimental studies performed on the FTU tokamak on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities and their active control by electron cyclotron (EC) heating and EC current drive (ECH/ECCD). It deals in particular with implementing of an automatic system that detects both the onset and localization of tearing modes and the localization of the EC power deposition and that is capable of actuating the stabilizing reaction with ECH/ECCD. The system is composed of a digital signal processor-based control unit to analyze electron temperature fluctuations (mostly from EC emission) and Mirnov coil data and to control gyrotron power supplies. The action is provided by an arrangement of four Gaussian beams at 140 GHz, coupling up to 1.6 MW power in total. The detection/reaction system, successfully tested in the experiments described, is very fast since no mirror motion is foreseen. In fact, the Gaussian beams are preliminarily oriented in an array covering the whole region where the mode is expected, and only the one closest to the mode is switched on at its appearance. The measurement of the deposition layer dep is performed by analyzing the transient response to modulated EC power. Different modulation waveforms are used, both periodic and pseudorandom, in order to select the most sensitive and fastest technique.
