A blink into the future: The SPES facility

The selective production of exotic species (SPES) facility is now under construction in Italy at the Legnaro National Laboratories of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (LNL-INFN). The SPES facility will allow the production of Radioactive Isotopes for both Nuclear Physics Research and Nuclear Medicine. In the context of Medical Applications, two important projects have been developed taking as a common basis the SPES 70 MeV cyclotron; these projects are ISOLPHARM and LARAMED, and a brief description is proposed below.

The ISOLPHARM project aims at the production of a wide set of high purity radionuclides for medical use, either for diagnosis or for therapy, according to the Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) technique, an accelerator-based method currently being implemented at LNL-INFN. The ISOLPHARM project will, indeed, exploit the SPES Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs) to produce high quality radioisotopes for radiopharmaceutical applications. The ISOLPHARM project will have the capability of producing a wide set of high purity (carrier-free) radionuclides for the research in the radiopharmaceutical field. Radionuclides of such a purity are highly required for the radiolabeling of ligands for therapy and diagnosis and the discovery of new radiopharmaceuticals. More information can be found at https://isolpharm.pd.infn.it/w....

The LAboratory of RADionuclides for MEDicine (LARAMED) project is one of the so-called “Progetti Premiali” (Awarded Projects) funded by the Italian Government through the Ministry of University and Research (MUR). The aim of LARAMED is the direct production, in good amount, of batches of different, medical-grade, radionuclides and radiopharmaceuticals, by using the proton beam provided by the SPES cyclotron useful for preclinical-clinical applications. Currently the LARAMED facility is under construction in the SPES building at LNL-INFN and it includes two bunkers devoted to the irradiation runs at low and high beam intensity (for nuclear cross section measurements and radionuclides production respectively) and dedicated laboratories aimed at target manufacturing and processing after irradiation (e.g. radiochemistry, γ-spectrometry, quality controls and the labelling of radiopharmaceuticals). LARAMED is also a “box” of scientific projects, funded by the INFN (CSN) and other Institutions, focused on specific radionuclides (99Mo/99mTc, 67Cu, 47Sc, 52/51Mn, 149,152,155,161Tb) and technology aspects (radiochemistry, targetry, etc.). Additional information can be found at https://www.lnl.infn.it/en/spes-laramed-range/.

Both ISOLPHARM and LARAMED will surely enrich the offer of different radioisotopes in the context of PRISMAP. The ISOLPHARM and LARAMED facilities are under construction and the commissioning phase will gradually start within the end of 2022 and will continue in 2023.

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