Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) is the most widely used medical isotope in health care and accounts for >76,000 scans per day worldwide. Most of these doses come from a limited number of aging reactors from the irradiation of highly enriched uranium (HEU). The product from this irradiation is the radionuclide molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) that is incorporated into a device called a generator and supplied to medical centres for use for up to a week at a time. The decay of Mo-99 provides on demand access to Tc-99m to use in scans for the diagnosis of cancer, cardiovascular disease and several other indications.*The dependence on a limited number of sources, as well as the security risks associated with the use of HEU, pose potential challenges to the supply of Mo-99 for generators. Molybdenum-99 can be produced without the use of HEU, however the concentration of the Mo-99 isotope is very low compared to other isotopes of molybdenum in the sample. In order to get the same amount of Mo-99 into the generator, the amount of molybdenum required would exceed the capacity of current generators. This project describes work to discover and synthesize new, high capacity polymer materials for use in traditional Mo-99/Tc-99m generators to allow the use of the lower concentration Mo-99. Synthetic chemistry methods will be applied to the modification of polymers and to the creation of new polymers to improve the capacity of the material to selectively capture the ions of interest. The five students trained under this program will gain knowledge of organic synthesis, polymer chemistry and the skills needed to work with radioactive materials. This research compliments the investment made by the government of Canada to identify non-reactor based sources of Tc-99m through the NISP and ITAP programs. The research from this project, along with work carried out by Acsion Industries and will allow hospitals to use Mo-99/Tc-99m generators in a format they already familiar with, while avoiding the security risks associated with the use of HEU.