The CERAD cyclotron has arrived in Świerk

The CERAD cyclotron, designed and built by the Belgian company IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.), has been installed at the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ). The cyclotron will accelerate protons and alpha particles to an energy of 30 MeV and deuterons to an energy of 15 MeV. By bombarding appropriately selected targets with these particles, it will be possible to produce radionuclides such as ⁸⁹Zr or ²¹¹At, which have not been produced at NCBJ to date and have not been widely available in Poland. Thanks to the new device in Świerk, it will be possible to conduct research on new radiopharmaceuticals, in particular those that will be specially designed for the needs of individual patients.

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The Cyclone 30 XP cyclotron arrived at its destination, the Molecularly Targeted Radiopharmaceutics Design and Synthesis Centre – CERAD in Świerk, this week. The device is one of the most advanced cyclotrons and one of only three that can accelerate three different charged particles.

"It is a great satisfaction that, after many efforts, the infrastructure of the CERAD project at NCBJ has been enriched with the Cyclone 30XP cyclotron," says Professor Renata Mikołajczak, project leader. "In this way, we join the elite group of research and development units with unique research equipment, i.e. a cyclotron that accelerates protons, deuterons, and alpha particles. Thanks to this device, we will be able to produce radioactive isotopes that have been difficult to obtain in Poland to date. This opens up the field for the design of innovative drugs that we will produce at CERAD."

The operation of the cyclotron will begin with the acceleration of protons, deuterons, and alpha particles from a source located in the center of the device. The particles will be accelerated by an electric field, and their trajectory will be controlled by a magnetic field generated by a set of copper coils. The accelerated particles will move along a spiral from the central source. As the radius increases, the particles will gain more energy. The magnet housing consists of a large electromagnet made up of a set of 4 sectors. Each sector is mounted on a steel plate. The magnetic field needed to keep the particles on their circular trajectories is generated between the plates, the upper and lower. Eventually, the accelerated ions will bombard specially selected targets, leading to the formation of isotopes desired by scientists. The material produced will be delivered to production laboratories, where it will be further processed to obtain radiopharmaceuticals or their precursors, and to scientific laboratories, where research on new preparations and ways to use them will be conducted.

The entire new CERAD laboratory complex in Świerk is already nearing completion. It will offer scientists 2,500 square meters of research and infrastructure space. The buildings of the complex are being equipped with state-of-the-art research and production equipment. Research will be conducted here primarily by scientists from universities and institutes involved in the project. They will be looking for new radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis and therapy, based on biologically active ligands acting at the cellular and molecular level.

With a wide range of radioactive isotopes available, produced in the cyclotron or in the reactor also operating at NCBJ, it will be possible to design isotopic markers that enable earlier and more precise detection of diseases, and thus, earlier implementation of appropriate therapeutic procedures. The scientists who designed the center want to combine isotopic techniques with other diagnostic methods based on, for example, molecular markers of the disease state or imaging using magnetic resonance imaging. Thanks to the wide spectrum of available radioactive isotopes, it will be possible to select the energy of radiation and the biological half-life of the drug in the body in such a way as to provide the optimal therapeutic dose, taking into account the nature and extent of the disease, and the individual situation of the patient. Both final drugs and their precursors used to prepare radiopharmaceuticals will be developed in the new laboratories.

The list of radionuclides that are medically interesting and will soon be available in Świerk includes several dozen elements, from the lightest fluorine-18F to the heaviest actinium-225Ac. The appropriate radionuclides formed in the irradiated targets must first be extracted from them and then carefully purified – both chemical and physical methods are used for this purpose. In the next step, the radionuclides are attached to appropriate chemical structures with affinity, for example, to cancer cells. These structures serve as carriers for radionuclides, transporting them to the interior of the body to the desired location. Carriers are most often peptides that are selected to accumulate in diseased cells. Thanks to the radiation emitted as a result of the radioactive decay of radionuclides attached to carriers and accumulated in cancer cells, it is possible to diagnose the diseased areas in the patient. Tomography of the PET and SPECT type is used for this purpose. Radioisotopes can be used in a similar way for internal radiotherapy. In this case, instead of a radioactive isotope emitting diagnostically useful beta+ or gamma radiation, it is possible to deliver to diseased cells nuclides emitting radiation that destroys cancer cells (beta- or alpha). The task of scientists developing new radiopharmaceuticals is to properly select both the radioisotope and the carrier in order to achieve the best diagnostic or therapeutic effect, to accurately hit the diseased area, and to cause as few undesirable side effects as possible.

The research infrastructure being created as part of the CERAD project will be open and will be made available for research work, including as part of the network programs of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), the Scientific Network "Radiopharmacy and Nuclear Medicine", as well as for academic education purposes. In particular, specialists in radiopharmacy will be trained there. In international cooperation, including as part of COST programs, scientists conducting research from Short Term Scientific Mission funds and scientific and training scholarships of the International Atomic Energy Agency will be accepted. The submitted projects will be evaluated by the Consortium Board for scientific quality, taking into account the total project costs and the base necessary for its launch. There are already signs of great interest from foreign entities in the Polish undertaking. The Center will also carry out commercial orders for the research and production of radiopharmaceuticals.

**The CERAD consortium coordinator is the National Centre for Nuclear Research. The consortium includes: the University of Warsaw, the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, the Warsaw Medical University, the Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University, and the Medical University of Biały

The CERAD consortium is coordinated by the National Centre for Nuclear Research. The consortium includes: the University of Warsaw, the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, the Warsaw Medical University, the Jagiellonian University Medical College, and the Medical University of Białystok. The CERAD project is co-financed by the funds of the Smart Growth Operational Program. The institution implementing the VI Priority Axis of POIR in Poland ("Increasing the scientific and research potential" implemented as part of Action 4.2. "Development of modern research infrastructure of the science sector"), which is responsible for financing the Project, is the Information Processing Centre - a State Research Institute.