ESR 1: Optimized production of 225Ac by the ISOL method for medical applications

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Institution

KU Leuven (https://www.kuleuven.be/english/) hosts 31,000 students (12% international from 120 nations), 5,000 academic, 3,000 administrative and technical, and 8,000 university hospital staff members over 14 faculties, 50 departments, and 240 research groups. It is ranked first in Europe for innovation (Reuters ranking). The Department of Physics & Astronomy explores the physical realities with mathematical, experimental and observational techniques. 15 research teams perform on an  international level. The Institute of Nuclear and Radiation Physics (IKS) (https://fys.kuleuven.be/iks) is active in the fields of nuclear physics for fundamental and societal research. It has about 50 researchers and 5 professors, and graduates 3-5 PhD students per year. The IKS expertise is situated in radioactive and stable ion beam research and applications, and nuclear physics research with laser, decay, orientation and reaction techniques.

Position

225Ac is an α-emitting radioisotope that has been identified as particularly interesting for targeted α therapy (TAT) in the treatment of distributed cancers (e.g. metastatic cancer, cancer of the endocrine system) or as the generator of 213Bi, also used in TAT. Providing a reliable source of this radioisotope for clinical studies is however challenging, and even more so for its prospect for long-term clinical use. The current supply chain relies on the stockpile of 233U that resulted from the XXth century military and civil nuclear research; this supply chain is however unreliable due to the high sensitivity of the material and its limited quantity.

Alternative nuclear-reaction-based production techniques are being investigated, but they all suffer from other limitations, especially in terms of the final product purity (mostly 227Ac contamination). The use of resonance laser ionization combined with mass separation is a way through which samples may be purified or enriched to provide radioisotopes of a sufficient quality for medical use. However, the requirements for such production is very different from those of fundamental research, namely that high production intensities are encountered and that the final products purity and specific activity are of paramount importance, rather than the exoticity of the extracted isotope.

Within this position, the candidate shall quantify the properties of beams of actinium and radium radioisotopes produced with the isotope separation online (ISOL) technique briefly described above. They will then optimize the target and ion source geometries to maximize the production and extraction of 225Ac. They will apply their findings to provide regular supply of 225Ac from the CERN MEDICIS facility to support (pre-)clinical research ongoing at the university hospital UZ Leuven. Finally, they will devise a route towards the sustainable use of the ISOL technique for the production of medical-grade doses of 225Ac.

Secondment

This position includes several secondments to:

• TRIUMF in Vancouver (BC, Canada) for 2 months,
• LIOP-TEC in Radevormwald (Germany) for 2 months, and
• CERN in Geneva (Switzerland) for 6 months.

Specific requirements

To quality for a PhD position at KU Leuven, candidates must demonstrate their proficiency in English either from having graduated from an English-speaking academic institution, or by providing a certification of English (e.g. TOEFL, …).

Students who graduated from an institution from outside the European Union are subject to a p re-  d octoral examination (https://set.kuleuven.be/phd/predoc.htm), which is established depending on the profile of the candidate in agreement with the promotor and the Faculty of Science. The predoc period is included within the PhD timeline.

For a PhD position at the IKS, knowledge of nuclear physics or nuclear engineering is required. Knowledge of atomic and laser physics is an added value.

Offer

A successful candidate for this position will be offered the following:

A successful candidate for this position will be offered a three year employment contract with a competitive salary plus a family, mobility and travel/training allowance.

The candidate will be enrolled in a PhD program within the Interdisciplinary Research Group (https://fys.kuleuven.be/iks/interdisciplinary-research) of the KU Leuven IKS, located on the Arenberg III Campus of the KU Leuven in Heverlee, Belgium

For more information, contact directly Prof Thomas Elias Cocolios (thomas.cocolios@kuleuven.be).

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