The LARAMED project at INFN-LNL: laboratory of radionuclides for medicine

The great advancement of nuclear medicine (NM) held in the last decades mainly relies in the development and use of a wide range of different and more effective radiopharmaceuticals. This goal has been achieved by combining the biological behaviour of new ligand molecules, selective for the specific tumour target, and the main nuclear properties of novel radioisotopes, specific for diagnostic, therapy and theranostic applications. The use and availability of a variety of radionuclides has experienced a great development as a result of the increase of technologies related to their production, even based on cyclotrons. At INFN-LNL a BEST 70p high performance cyclotron was installed in 2015, to be dedicated not only to the new frontiers of nuclear physics studies (SPES project), but also to the interdisciplinary and medical physics investigations, through the LARAMED project, acronym for LAboratory of RADionuclides for MEDicine. Albeit the facility is currently under development (installation of beam-lines, laboratories etc), since 2012 the team started working on the production of conventional and innovative radionuclides for NM applications. LARAMED activities have started with TECHN-OSP and APOTEMA projects, aimed at the direct production of Tc-99m with small cyclotrons already installed in hospitals. The focus is now devoted on studying new emerging radionuclides such as Cu-67 (COME project), Sc-47 (PASTA project) and Mn-52 (METRICS project). These studies have allowed the development of new techniques for producing thin solid targets by using High Energy Vibrational Powder Plating (HIVIPP) method (E- PLATE project) and high-power target (TERABIO premium-project). The collaboration with NM radiopharmacies holding a PET cyclotron (e.g. the Sant'Orsola Hospital in Bologna and the Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital in Negrar), as well as with national and international research institutes, such as several INFN sections, the University of Ferrara, the CNR in Milan and the ARRONAX facility (Nantes, France), made all this effort possible. An up-dated overview of the on-going projects regarding different radiometals, produced by using proton cyclotrons, is the purpose of this poster. Results from cross-section measurements, target production, irradiation runs, target processing and recovery, that was carried out by the LARAMED research group will be presented. (author)