BC Gov News

The new state-of-the-art cyclotron and radiopharmacy laboratory in Vancouver will increase access to PET/CT scans, which will help physicians to more accurately diagnose and manage diseases, especially cancer.

PET/CT Scans

• A PET/CT scan evaluates a body’s organs and tissues at a molecular level, can identify abnormalities in cells, and can show whether a tumour has grown, shrunk or returned.
• PET/CT imaging enables physicians to accurately diagnose and stage cancers, determine appropriate treatment options and measure treatment efficacy.
• There are four publicly funded PET/CT scanners in B.C.:
  • Two are located at BC Cancer – Vancouver
  • One is located at BC Cancer – Victoria
  • One is located at BC Cancer – Kelowna

Cyclotrons

• Cyclotrons are particle accelerators that can be used to make isotopes for medical imaging and research purposes.
• Cyclotron facilities offer a green and sustainable approach for producing critical medical isotopes.
• BC Cancer has operated a cyclotron facility since 2010.
• TRIUMF maintains a number of cyclotrons used for research.

Founded in 1968 by the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria, TRIUMF is Canada’s particle accelerator centre. It is a world-class hub of research, education, and innovation and is a cornerstone of B.C.’s innovation ecosystem, driving impact locally, nationally and around the world.

TRIUMF is Canada’s national-level laboratory for accelerator science, which does world-leading research in particle and nuclear physics, life sciences, materials sciences, data science, engineering and design/fabrication, theoretical physics and more.

• TRIUMF is home to more than 50 experimental facilities and collaboration teams, and performs its science on site, as well as via contributions to major “Big Science” experiments around the world, including the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Europe and the Hyper-K detector in Japan.
• TRIUMF’s work spans the entire continuum of research from fundamental science to commercialization, creating spin-off companies, licensing advanced technologies, and bringing impact from the lab bench out into the world.
• TRIUMF is a major contributor to the development of highly qualified personnel in STEM and in Canada. The laboratory trains approximately 150 co-op students per year, and acts like a pipeline that empowers Canadian early-career researchers (co-op students, graduate students, doctoral and post-doctoral students) to extend the impact of their research into the wider global Big Science ecosystem.

Particle accelerators are unique machines that use a combination of electrical and magnetic fields to accelerate particles. TRIUMF is home to a suite of particle accelerators, which include cyclotrons (which accelerate particles along a circular path) and linear accelerators (which accelerate particles in a straight line).

• TRIUMF operates the world’s largest conventional cyclotron, the 520 MeV cyclotron, which is 18 metres in diameter and weighs more than 4,400 tonnes.
• TRIUMF’s community of researchers, engineers, and others use particle accelerators for a variety of purposes, such as:
  • to produce rare, short-lived exotic isotopes. By smashing the particle beam into a target, TRIUMF can produce isotopes that are useful for science, medicine, and business.
  • Nuclear physicists at TRIUMF use isotopes as tools that can help push the boundaries of our understanding about the universe. They are used to mimic and then study stellar environments, like exploding or colliding stars, which tell us about how matter is created in the universe.
  • Life science researchers use small quantities of short-lived isotopes, deployed in substances called radiopharmaceuticals, which can be safely injected into the body to help us diagnose and even treat different diseases.
  • Particle physicists and materials scientists at TRIUMF use isotopes to characterize and optimize materials, including development and testing for things like the next generation of green batteries or low-temperature superconductors.
• Since building the world’s largest cyclotron in the early 1970s, TRIUMF has cultivated a hub of excellence around a core of expertise in accelerators and isotope research.
• From supporting Nobel-winning research to delivering life-saving breakthroughs in health and technology, TRIUMF has become a major asset in B.C.’s high-tech landscape.

Located on the TRIUMF campus, the Institute for Advanced Medical Isotopes (IAMI) is a $50 million+ world-leading research and production facility that will enable the accelerated growth of B.C.’s life sciences sector. IAMI was announced in 2018, and received major contributions from the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia and contributions from TRIUMF, BC Cancer Foundation and the University of British Columbia.

• IAMI will enable B.C.-based research into next-generation medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals.
• IAMI will comprise a suite of laboratories and two new cyclotrons to produce isotopes. This includes isotopes that are already being used in critically needed diagnostic scans (i.e., for PET scans, bone density scans, heart disease scans, etc.) as well as the next generation of useful isotopes that require special labs to study and develop.
• IAMI will provide provincial isotope security, fortifying the existing supply chain for isotopes that are used in a variety of diagnostic scans.
• IAMI provides additional research and laboratory capacity to help us unlock next-generation cancer therapies, which utilize short-lived isotopes to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy tissue unaffected.
• IAMI provides a unique environment in the Canadian life sciences ecosystem to advance technological innovation and skills training for the next generation of STEM leaders. Life sciences researchers (physicists, chemists, etc.) across the radiopharmacy landscape will have access to leading-edge laboratory space to pursue their research.