SAMOP 2021 – scientific programme

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SYAR: Symposium The state of the art in actinide research

SYAR 1: The state of the art in actinide research

SYAR 1.4: Invited Talk

Wednesday, September 22, 2021, 12:15–12:45, Audimax

Use of the actinides in medical research — •Thomas Elias Cocolios — KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

The actinides present many features that are of interest for medical applications, such as a wide variety of half-lives and decay modes. Moreover, they share very similar chemistry which can help in the development of radiopharmaceuticals. However, access to these isotopes is notoriously difficult and their chemical similarities renders the purification arduous. Nonetheless, in the recent years, new efforts have been invested towards their use in medical research, in particular for targeted alpha therapy (TAT).

TAT is the treatment of cancer by the injection of a radiopharmaceutical product with a targeted action - namely that will seek out the cancer cells - where upon delivery the alpha particle emitted during the decay will ensure the destruction of the targeted cell. Due to its heavy mass and charge state, the alpha particle offers a high linear energy transfer over a short distance of only a few cells, ensuring maximal damage to the DNA of the targeted cells while minimizing collateral damage to healthy tissues.

In this presentation, I shall review the recent work on TAT with actinides. I shall present the current research towards the sustainable production of radioisotopes for TAT with a special emphasis on the role of actinides in this research.