MRIP: selected projects
Updated 18 October 2023
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The Medical Radionuclide Innovation Programme (MRIP) Innovation Project funding will support 10 projects across academia and industry. These projects will deliver innovative research into technologies and techniques that could strengthen the UK’s access to medical radionuclides in the future.
The selected projects will address various challenges in radionuclide supply, including the development of new target enrichment and manufacturing techniques, improving the outputs of existing irradiation capability, and developing radioactive material processing techniques.
The projects
Queen Mary University of London: Development of UK Astatine‑211 Production Capability
This project aims to establish the first UK production of Astatine‑211. Astatine‑211 could be used for targeted alpha therapy for cancer.
King’s College London: Development of UK Iodine‑124 Production Capability
This project aims to establish the first robust, scalable UK production route for iodine‑124, a radionuclide that can be used for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans.
Urenco: Development of UK Supply Chain for Copper Medical Isotopes
This project aims to develop a new production route for the Copper‑64 / Copper‑67 theranostic pair. This is a pair of radionuclides that can be used for diagnostic imaging and therapy.
National Nuclear Laboratory: Investigating the Recovery of Strontium‑90 From Legacy Nuclear Material for the Sustained Production of Yttrium‑90 for Targeted Therapies
This project will look at the recovery of Strontium‑90 from nuclear ‘waste’. Stronium‑90 could help to meet UK demand for Yttrium-90, a beta emitter that could be used for cancer therapy.
National Nuclear Laboratory: Accelerated Supply of Radionuclides for Cancer Treatment by Developing Protactinium and Actinium Separation Techniques
This project will look at extraction of the parent isotopes for Protactinium and Actinium from spent nuclear material. These radionuclides could be used for treating certain types of cancer.
Cyclife Aquila Nuclear: Hot Cells to House a Lead‑212 Generator for Integration Into a Hospital Environment
This project aims to design hot cells for safe integration of Lead‑212 generators into hospital environments. Lead‑212 is used in targeted alpha particle therapy for cancer.
National Physical Laboratory: Research of the End-to-End Accelerator Production of Actinium‑225 from Radium‑226
This project will look at the production of Actinium‑225. This radionuclide is an alpha emitter that could be useful for cancer therapy.
Dalton Cumbrian Facility: Optimised Production of Theragnostic Isotopes of Copper and Scandium
This project aims to develop a fully automated supply route for theragnostic radionuclides for the UK medical isotope research community. ‘Theragnostic’ refers to radionuclides being used in combination for diagnostic imaging and therapy – this project will focus on pairs of isotopes of either Scandium or Copper which can be paired to create theragnostics, ultimately in a patient-specific manner.
National Nuclear Laboratory: Sustainable Production of Radionuclides for Targeted Alpha Therapy from UK Stocks of Recycled Uranium
NNL have developed an extraction process to extract Thorium‑228 from legacy nuclear material. This project will look to scale the process up to support the development of new radiopharmaceuticals.
Thorium‑228 can be further processed into radionuclides that are under research for cancer treatments.
National Physical Laboratory: Medical Radionuclide Production by Laser Wakefield Accelerator
This project aims to develop a UK based supply route for radionuclides such as Copper‑67. Copper‑67 could be used for cancer therapy and diagnostic imaging.