Cyclotron

The Cyclotron group of the TONA department of the VUB is in charge of the exploitation of a variable energy, multiparticle accelerator used in research and for routine production of radioisotopes.The main research activities developed around the cyclotron by different groups are: 1. Physical characterisation of nuclear threshold reactions (Prof A. Hermanne, TONA/CYCL): - Stacked foil analysis for determination of cross-sections of charged particle reactions for beam monitoring and isotope production; - Time of flight spectroscopy of fast neutron beams. 2. Micro-optics with deep ion lithography (TONA department).3. Optimisation of radionuclide production (Prof. P. Van Den Winkel, BEFY): - Electrochemical procedures for target preparation and recovery of enriched material; - Automation of chemical procedures for high yield separation, purification and quality control methods for GBq batch productions.4. Development of radioiodinated receptors and metabolic tracers (Prof. J. Mertens, BEFY): - Research and development of tracers for cerebral receptors; - Development of tracers for the study of glucose transporters in tumours, heart and other organs of interest.5.Daily production of 50GBq 18F for FDG labelling6.On demand production of radionuclides for research, medical or technological applications