Valery Radchenko at GIP ARRONAX as part of the NExT – ICoN project

From 21 to 31 May, Valery Radchenko, a radiochemist at the TRIUMF particle acceleration centre (Vancouver, Canada), visited GIP ARRONAX in the context of a scientific collaboration to develop new generators to produce medical radionuclides for theranostics.

Valery Radchenko has a joint appointment with the University of British Columbia and has been conducting research in radiochemistry at TRIUMF since 2016 to explore the potential of alpha and Auger electron emitting radionuclides for Targeted Radionuclide Therapy and to develop processes for the production and purification into generators of several radioisotopes of interest for the theranostic approach in nuclear medicine.

The radiochemist spent two weeks at GIP ARRONAX this spring. He was invited by Nantes Université as part of the international research partnership ICoN (International Consortium on scaNdium radio-isotopes) of the NExT i-site initiated in 2019. On site, he worked with Sandrine Huclier (teacher-researcher at Nantes University/Subatech laboratory), Marie Théry (PhD student at Subatech/GIP ARRONAX) and Théo Demartinécourt (research engineer at GIP ARRONAX) on the development of a ⁴⁴Ti/⁴⁴Sc generator, which would then be used to conduct preclinical PET imaging studies using ⁴⁴Sc. The presence of Valery Radchenko in GIP ARRONAX’s laboratories was also an opportunity for the Nantes scientists to test new ligands for ⁴⁴Sc and to further their work on an Auger ¹⁰³Ru/^103mRh emitter generator. Regarding the Auger emitter generator, the aim of the collaboration between TRIUMF and GIP ARRONAX is to explore other ways of producing ¹⁰³Ru (from ¹⁰⁰Mo or ²³²Th) and to develop the chemistry for extracting and purifying this element of interest.

Valery Radchenko will be crossing the Atlantic again in October 2024 for a second stay of the same duration in Nantes to continue the work begun with his colleagues, but also to launch a new joint research project on ^197m/gHg, another radioisotope of interest for nuclear medicine, and to set up a COST action (interdisciplinary research network supported by the European Union) dedicated to Auger emitters. During this autumn visit, Valery Radchenko will be giving a general seminar for students at the Faculty of Science and Technology at Nantes University.

Contact: Sandrine Huclier