Radiolanthanides: Tb-149/152/155/161---- 'Swiss Army knife' in nuclear medicine?
Terbium has four medically relevant isotopes: Tb-149 (alpha emitter), Tb-152 (PET isotope), Tb-155 (SPECT isotope), Tb-161 (beta emitter), providing options for all major nuclear medicine modalities and enabling theranostics (therapy + imaging) using chemically identical compounds. Tb-161 is produced at reactor. Tb-149/152/155 are currently produced from mass separation stations of cyclotrons. There are only a few facilities in the world can produce those isotopes. We are working closely with our partners on the production and preclinical evaluations of Tb radiopharmaceuticals.
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New chelators for alpha-emitters ---- new bullets need new cases
Conventional radiometal chelators such as DOTA and DTPA are not well-suited for new generation therapeutic isotopes such as Ac-225, Th-227, Bi-213 or Ra-223. Development of novel chelators that can specifically and stably carry those isotopes to tumours is important to realize the potential of targeted radionuclide therapy. One of our lead compounds, crown, has shown excellent labeling and in vivo stability with several emerging therapeutic isotopes and largely improve the labeling efficiency and the molar activity of the radiopharmaceuticals produced.
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F-18 amino acids for cancer diagnoses ---- to see is to believe
F-18 is the most commonly used PET radioisotope -- it is easily accessible and generates excellent images. Conventional [F-18]FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) scans, although very powerful, are not suited for cancers that do not have high glucose uptake (so called FDG non avid tumours), or brain tumours where the background uptake is too high. F-18 labeled amino acids are one of the alternatives in those situations -- they generally have good uptake in a large range of tumours through amino acid transporters. With our collaborators, we have developed an F-18 amino acid for oxidative stress imaging (FASu), and a new method (photo catalyst induced fluorination) to make a pool of F-18 labeled amino acids.
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About Us
We are a research group in the Life Sciences Division at TRIUMF. We are passionate about using radiopharmaceuticals to diagnose and treat cancers.
TRIUMF is a research institute and a hub for medical isotopes in Canada, located on UBC campus.
TRIUMF is a research institute and a hub for medical isotopes in Canada, located on UBC campus.