The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to meet the need for low cost dose-on-demand production of Carbon-11 for biomarker and radiotracer applications in nuclear medicine. Biomarkers and radiotracers are commonly used for metabolic imaging, in support of research, drug discovery, and detection of cancer and other illnesses. They are also used for therapy staging of cancer, to determine if treatment is effective. Common examples include myocardial perfusion imaging of the heart to visualize blood flow and function, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning of the brain to detect early onset Alzheimer's and brain tumors, and Choline positron emission tomography - computed tomography (PET/CT) for the diagnosis and staging of prostate cancer. Carbon-11 is an important radiotracer/radiopharmaceutical that offers unique advantages due to its ability to be easily incorporated into many molecules without impacting biological activity. Carbon-11 is currently produced by using specialized targets on high-energy commercial cyclotrons. These cyclotrons cost millions of dollars to install and existing targets are inefficient. Low energy cyclotrons are significantly less expensive, and are currently under development by multiple commercial companies. This project seeks to develop a novel cyclotron target methodology for producing Carbon-11 at low energies using unique nanomaterials, resulting in significantly lower costs.
The intellectual merit of this project involves the use of novel nanomaterials to produce Carbon-11 more efficiently and at lower cost, through development of recoil escape targets. It is challenging to find a good target material suitable for both efficient production of Carbon-11, by one of several available nuclear reactions, and efficient recovery of the produced radiotracer in a usable form. The produced Carbon-11 can be difficult to recover, as it is easily trapped in many conventional target materials, resulting in low yields. Recent advances in nanoscience and technology allow for production of novel materials with unique characteristics. Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT) are composed of fibers with single atomic thickness, or at most a few atoms thick, allowing Carbon-11 to be efficiently produced and recovered in the form of carbon dioxide gas using low energy cyclotrons. This project seeks to further develop BNNT materials with ideal characteristics, including high purity and optimal density. A prototype production target will be developed and tested which can be used to produce Carbon-11 using economical, low-energy cyclotrons. The process for collecting the Carbon-11 gas will be optimized to achieve the highest yields of usable radiotracer material.
