Grant: Collaborative Research and Training Experience

The ISOSIM CREATE program will provide enriched training experiences in the production, preparation, and application of nuclear isotopes for science and medicine in world-class collaborative research environments. Isotopes are used in fields from preclinical medical research, environmental science, characterization of new materials, to investigations of the foundations of the universe. Today Canada produces over 40% of the world's medical isotopes, a $4B global business with yearly growth of up to 4%. Institutions like UBC, TRIUMF, the BC Cancer Agency and companies like Nordion and Advanced Cyclotron Solutions Inc. transform Vancouver into a hub for isotope related research and industries, emerging as ""Isotope Valley"". The ISOSIM CREATE program will leverage federal investments into isotope research and production capacities within the Isotope Technology Acceleration Program (ITAP), part of the Economic Action Plan 2012, by establishing a training program to provide students with the unique skills required for employment in isotope-related fields, development of new radioisotopes, and promotion of innovative new isotope applications in environmental science and medicine. ISOSIM will teach critical transitional skills by educating students who have nuclear and accelerator science backgrounds in isotope applications, while students already using isotopes will learn essential aspects of production, preparation, and detection. The proposed interdisciplinary training and experiential learning activities will create the next generation of leaders for isotope related industries and markets, including commercial, public health, environmental and governmental sectors, and academia. ISOSIM will encourage student mobility through a student placement program that builds on strong existing collaboration between UBC/TRIUMF and partners in Germany: the Helmholtz Centres Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Bremerhaven), GSI for Heavy Ion Research (Darmstadt), HZB for Materials and Energy (Berlin), and DESY (Hamburg) as well as the Laboratory for Preclinical Imaging and Imaging Technology, Siemens-Foundation (Tübingen), the MPI Stuttgart, and GE Global Research Munich.