TRIUMF : Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics

Medical isotopes have caught the attention of the Canadian public, political process, and media.   TRIUMF has a long history with nuclear medicine and medical isotopes.

Medical isotopes allow clinicians to see what is happening inside the body non-invasively and in real-time at a molecular level. Canada has a dominant position in the roughly $4 billion global business of medical isotopes contributing more than 50% of the world's "raw material" isotope supply. The business is projected to grow steadily at 1%-4% a year for a decade. Canada has the potential to be a leader not only in the next generation of raw material medical isotopes, but also in developing added-value isotopes that will drive market growth with substantially enhanced capabilities. If Canada does not aggressively maintain its market position, this growing business (and its direct impact on health and wellness) will slip away from Canada.

Watch a short movie to learn more about nuclear medicine and TRIUMF (click on "Life Sciences").

Read TRIUMF's FAQ on Medical Isotopes

Publications and Written Testimony

• Making Medical Isotopes: Final Report of the Task Force on Alternatives for Medical-Isotope Production (Nov 2008).  With support from Natural Resources Canada, TRIUMF, UBC, and AAPS convened an international panel of physics, chemistry, and nuclear-medicine experts to  analyze accelerator-based techniques for production of Mo-99.  This report presents their analysis.
• Accelerating production of medical isotopes (29 Jan 2009).  Opinion essay invited by Nature magazine from Thomas J. Ruth about the status and future of Mo-99 production and utilization.
• Testimony to the House Standing Committee on Natural Resources (16 Jun 2009) [available in French].  Written testimony submitted to the Parliamentary hearing discussing
• Expression of Interest submitted to NRCan Expert Panel (31 Jul 2009).  Presentation of Zero-Enriched Uranium Mo-99 (ZEUM) technology for accelerator-driven photo-fission production of Mo-99 including schedule and resource requirements for a technology demonstration in 2012.

Some of TRIUMF's Partners

• Pacific Parkinson's Research  Centre
• BC Cancer Agency
• Cross Cancer Institute
• Advanced Applied Physics Solutions, Inc.
• LifeSciences BC