DOE Isotope Program Highlights

News highlights from all participating national laboratories, university facilities, and other research institutions which feature work from the U.S. Department of Energy Isotope Program can be found here.

Image courtesy of Carlos Jones, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Researcher Sandra Davern looks at non-radioactive metal ions enclosed in biodegradable polymers in her lab at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Her work is paving the way for enclosing isotopes in the same polymers for targeted treatment of cancer cells.

Enclosing Radiation-Loaded Particles to Better Seek and Destroy Cancer

Promising study details how radioactive agents could be sent directly to cancer cells.
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Image courtesy of Donald Montoya, Los Alamos National Laboratory Cerium-134 can be targeted to provide an imaging analogue for two different therapy isotopes, actinium-225 and thorium-227. This helps scientists understand these therapy isotopes and develop new treatments. These novel isotopes are being developed and produced by the DOE Isotope Program.

New Imaging Isotope Meets Promising Therapy Isotopes

New production methods for Ce-134 advance technologies for imaging human disease and guiding treatment.
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Image courtesy of Jon Burns, Texas A&M University At-211 – ketone interaction within the chromatography column.

New Elegant Method for Rapid Recovery of Anti-Cancer Agent At-211

A high-speed, high-yield recovery approach for At-211 means improved availability of this cancer-treating isotope.
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Julie Ezold has been elected to a three-year term on the American Nuclear Society’s Board of Directors.

Ezold elected to the ANS Board of Directors

Julie Ezold, section head at ORNL, has been elected to a three-year term on the American Nuclear Society’s Board of Directors.
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Increasing the Arsenal of Radioisotopes in the Fight Against Cancer

Increasing the Arsenal of Radioisotopes in the Fight Against Cancer

A new supply of a critical radioisotope advances personalized medicine.
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Uranium to Treat Cancer

Harnessing the Power of Uranium to Treat Disease

New system makes it easier to produce isotopes for radiopharmaceutical therapy.
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Berkeley Lab scientists Leticia Arnedo-Sanchez (from left), Katherine Shield, Korey Carter, and Jennifer Wacker had to take precautions against radioactivity as well as coronavirus to conduct experiments with the rare element, einsteinium. (Credit: Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab)

Discoveries at the Edge of the Periodic Table: First Ever Measurements of Einsteinium

With less than 250 nanograms of the element, the team measured the first-ever einsteinium bond distance, a basic property of an element’s interactions with other atoms and molecules.
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Never Quit - The DOE National Laboratories Fight Against Cancer

Never Quit - The DOE National Laboratories Fight Against Cancer

World Cancer Day is 2/4, a time to reckon with the disease that currently impacts more than a 1M Americans per year.
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Sandra Davern

Sandra Davern: Developing Medical Isotopes to Fight Cancer

When Sandra Davern looks to the future, she sees isotopes sent into the body with a specific target: cancer cells.
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Suzanne Lapi

Suzanne E. Lapi: What did the 2011 Early Career Award allow you to do?

The ECA project enabled me to get started with solid targets for the accelerator production of radioisotopes.
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