Targets

Once established the nuclear reaction route to produce the specific radionuclide, targetry is the first technological step of the cyclotron radiopharmaceutical preparation. The technical aspects dealing with the design and manufacturing are crucial because they have a direct impact on the final product quality and quantity. For this reason, in the LARAMED group experts in material science and engineering focus on target manufacturing technology task, and a dedicated laboratory is under completion. Among the several techniques available, the LARAMED team focused on:

– Spark plasma sintering (SPS)

– Magnetron sputtering (MS)

– High energy vibrational powder plating (HIVIPP)

From the first project dedicated to the cyclotron production of ^99mTc starting from ¹⁰⁰Mo target (TECHN-OSP), innovative target manufacturing techniques in this field were investigated to overcome the limits of the standard ones.  

It is important to underline the crucial step of target characterization exploiting, for example, the Elastic BackScattering (EBS), the Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE), the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis and other methods available at the INFN-LNL.

The routine supply, in due amounts, of batches for some of emerging medical radionuclides (e.g., ⁶⁷Cu, ¹⁵⁵Tb, ⁸⁹Zr and ^52gMn) is currently limited due to the lack of suitable targets exploiting the cyclotron-driven production routes. The R&D on alternative targetry technology is indeed one of key R&D items of the LARAMED project, also in collaboration with the Universities of Padova and of Pavia. 

Several technologies are being investigated and will be included in the new dedicated lab under construction, to manufacture solid targets considering different materials and fulfilling all the technical requirements for medical radionuclide production. Currently, the main ones are SPS, MS and HIVIPP but future developments may include additional techniques.