<sup>211</sup>At at Texas A&M: Discovery Nuclear Physics Driving Medical Opportunities
ORAL
Abstract
Alpha emitting radionuclides with medically relevant half-lives are interesting for treatment of tumors and other diseases because they deposit large amounts of energy close to the location of the radioisotope. Researchers at the Cyclotron Institute at Texas A&M University have developed a program to produce 211At, an alpha emitter with a 7.2 h half-life. The properties of 211At make it a great candidate for targeted alpha therapy for cancer due to its short half-life and decay mechanism. Astatine-211 is now regularly produced and novel chemistry has been developed for the separation of the At from the Bi target and the shipment to other research centers. Innovations to improve the safety and reliability of this process have been enacted.
*This research was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Isotope R&D and Production under Award No. DE-SC0020958, Texas A&M University through the Bright Chair in Nuclear Science, and the Texas A&M System National Laboratories Office through a collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory. Additionally, this work was enabled by, the Texas A&M Nuclear Solutions Institute and U.S. Department of Energy under Award No. DE-FG02-93ER40773.
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Presenters
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Sherry J Yennello
- Texas A&M University College Station