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Federal government funds work on new medical isotopes at three locations

By: The Canadian Press

Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 at 9:29 PM | Comments: 0

OTTAWA - The federal government has chosen three organizations to work on developing a new medical isotope.

The University of Alberta, TRIUMF in British Columbia and Prairie Isotope Production Enterprise in Manitoba will share about $21 million for their work.

The isotope known as TC-99m is used for medical imaging, often to diagnose diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Canada experienced a shortage of medical isotopes following the shutdown of a nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ont., in 2009.

The new work is aimed at producing isotopes without a nuclear reactor.

Meanwhile, scientists at the Canadian Light Source synchrotron in Saskatoon are ready to test the Medical Isotope Project (MIP) facility after being given a commissioning licence from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

With the licence, the MIP will undergo rigorous testing to ensure the facility is ready to produce medical isotopes in the very near future.

The CLS will have the ability to produce medical isotopes using X-rays from a particle accelerator instead of a nuclear reactor.

The project is being led by the CLS along with partners from the National Research Council of Canada, and medical researchers in Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto.

“After many years of hard work, we are extremely excited to begin testing the Medical Isotope Project facility,” said Mark de Jong, CLS director of accelerators.

“We have made tremendous progress so that we can begin the production of isotopes very soon. Our goal is to produce medical isotopes safely, reliably and affordably, and we have almost reached that goal.”

According to de Jong, two or three accelerator systems like the one operating at the CLS could produce enough medical isotopes to supply all of Canada.

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