LARAMED

NEWS!

An important milestone has been achieved in September 2026: the radionuclide copper-67 (⁶⁷Cu) has been produced for the first time in Italy in the framework of the CUPRUM_TTD project, funded by INFN’s National Scientific Commission 5 (CSN5) and developed at the Legnaro National Laboratories. 

This result marks a significant milestone in a multi-year research and development effort, carried out through close collaboration among INFN, the University of Ferrara, and the IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital. Such important achievement is the result of years of experimental work, multidisciplinary expertise, and continuous collaboration among the nuclear physicists, engineers, chemists, and researchers involved in the project.

⁶⁷Cu is one of the therapeutic radionuclides of greatest international interest due to its unique physical and radiobiological characteristics. Its emission of beta-minus particles allows it to be used in the treatment of various types of cancer, while the concomitant emission of γ photons enables SPECT imaging, which is useful for assessing biodistribution, monitoring therapy, and dosimetry. Its use therefore appears particularly promising in the field of personalized nuclear medicine, especially for the treatment of cancers such as prostate cancer and glioblastoma.

The production and purification of ⁶⁷Cu following the irradiation of an enriched ⁷⁰Zn target represent a significant step toward making this radionuclide available for future preclinical and clinical research, confirming the role of LNL-INFN in the development of advanced technologies and infrastructure to support nuclear medicine and biomedical applications.

The enriched ⁷⁰Zn target coin realized with the Spark Plasma Sintering method.

The LARAMED team at the 12th International Conference on Isotopes (12ICI: www.12ici.org), held in Florence in February 2026.

“Nuclear for Health”: A dialog among science, business and istitutions for the health of future.

Liliana Mou, a technologist of the Legnaro National Laboratories and member of the LARAMED team, restate the preeminence international role of INFN in the research on medical radionuclides:

Convegno “Nucleare per la salute”: il dialogo tra scienza, impresa e istituzioni per la sanità del domani

In the framework of the INFN activities dedicated to life science, the LARAMED (LAboratory of RAdionuclides for MEDicine) project at the Legnaro National Laboratories (LNL) now assumes a key role. The aim is to investigate the production methods of innovative radionuclides to be employed in diagnostic and therapeutic medical procedures, mainly for tumours, with next-generation radiopharmaceuticals. First cross section measurement tests have been successfully performed using the target station tailored designed (and shown in the picutre below). Several proton beam energies accelerated by the SPES cyclotron have been tested with stacked-foils target composed by thin layers of different materials. The figure below shows the gamma spectra of a natural zinc target, irradiated with 50 MeV protons, where the 67Cu gamma lines can be observed (highlighted in the plot). The theranostic 67Cu radionuclide, among the LARAMED goals, is currently under the spotlight of the international community for its potential in the diagnosis and treatment of some tumours, e.g. prostate cancer and glioblastoma.

Natural zinc spectrum with 67Cu gamma lines highlighted (left); target station used for the first cross sections tests (right).

The website presents the LARAMED (LAboratory of RAdionuclides for MEDicine) facility, as part of the SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) research infrastructure under completion at the INFN-LNL, along with the main project outcomes gained during the last years, thanks to an ongoing fruitful network of collaborations. 

The interdisciplinary aspects of the production of medically-relevant radionuclides, such as 67Cu, 47Sc, 52Mn etc., are shown, including the latest technological achievements in targetry, radiochemistry, and applied nuclear physics. 

The ambitious goals of the LARAMED project are reached thanks to a solid team work.

Scheme of the main steps in the direct production of medical radionuclides.

The research activities on radionuclides production for medicine (e.g., new radiopharmaceuticals development) and applied and interdisciplinary physics (e.g., radiobiology and environmental studies) at the INFN-LNL are coordinated by the Radionuclides for Medicine and Applied Physics service (RMFA) located in the research division.