Medical Physics
Medical Physics is a highly interdisciplinary field that crosses the boundaries of medicine, biology, pharmacology, chemistry, physics and engineering. The main research activity of the group is concerned with the production and the application of innovative radionuclides for therapy and diagnostic nuclear medicine, in particular theranostic radionuclides, which can be employed both for therapy and for diagnostic purposes (e.g. 47Sc), or the so called theranostic pairs, couple of radioisotopes of the same chemical element with different physical decay properties, suitable for imaging and therapy respectively (e.g. 64Cu and 67Cu). This strategy enhances diagnostic precision, minimizes toxicity, and improves therapy outcomes through real-time monitoring and adaptive treatment adjustments, satisfying a personalised medical approach.
The research activity is carried out in collaboration with researchers of many institutions, in particular the INFN-Legnaro Laboratories (INFN-LNL), where the LARAMED (Laboratory of Radioisotopes for Medicine) and the LARIM (Laboratory of radionuclides and molecular imaging) facilities are located,the Veneto Oncological Institute (IOV), the CNR-ICMATE (Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry and Technologies for Energy) and the Ferrara University (UNIFE).
Staff
Assistant Professors: Laura De Nardo
Technical staff: Michele Bello
Post-doc
Lucia De Dominicis
External collaborators
Cristina Bolzati (CNR-ICMATE), Luciano Canton (INFN-PD), Juan Esposito (INFN-LNL), Petra Martini (UNIFE), Laura Melendez (IOV), Liliana Mou (INFN-LNL), Marta Paiusco (IOV), Gaia Pupillo (INFN-LNL), Alessandra Zorz (IOV)
Research activities
Nuclear cross section measurements
The production of radionuclides for medical applications through the direct activation method exploits the irradiation of a suitable target by an accelerated particle beam (e.g. proton), followed by a chemical treatment of the irradiated target to extract the products of interest from the target material and to separate the radionuclide of interest from the non-isotopic contaminants. As this procedure does not allow to remove isotopic contaminants, their presence should be minimized as much as possible through the individuation of optimized irradiation conditions (energy interval and irradiation time). Cross sections contribute to individuate the potentially best energy interval exploitable for the medical radionuclide production, optimizing both the yield and the radioisotopic purity.
Contacts: Lucia De Dominicis, Laura De Nardo
Website: LARAMED
Nuclear cross sections modelling
Theoretical physics, through the use of sophisticated nuclear reaction codes, gives a strong contribution to the study of low-energy nuclear reaction in the effort to identify innovative radionuclides for medical applications and to optimize their production route.
Nuclear codes allow to calculate nuclear reaction cross-sections (probability of reaction) and yields (activity produced) for specific radionuclides, rapidly screening between different production routes, saving time and expense of extensive experiments. Predicted data for unmeasured reactions or energy ranges, crucial for new/emerging radionuclides allow to identify ideal production parameters (target, energy) for maximum yield and purity, which will then be experimentally verified. Nuclear modelling is also an important aspect of data analysis and interpretation and integrates experimental data with additional information coming from theoretical models.
Contacts: Laura De Nardo
In-vitro and in-vivo radiopharmaceuticals studies
Innovative radiocomplexes and bioconjugates for radiopharmaceuticals manufacturing, developed at the LARIM laboratory, are there also fully characterized by in-vitro and in-vivo studies. The uptake, internalization and cellular localization of the radiopharmaceuticals are evaluated on different cell lines and cell survival studies allow to assess their therapeutic effects. A PET/SPECT/CT system for small animal is used to investigate the biodistribution of radiopharmaceuticals through quantitative analysis of acquired images.
Contacts: Laura De Nardo
Dosimetry
The research activity aims at investigating the absorbed dose delivered by the administration of innovative radiopharmaceuticals, at both the cellular and the organ level, by exploiting the experimental data acquired by means of in vitro and in vivo studies and dosimetric computational tools. Of particular relevance from the point of view of determining the optimal route for the production of new radionuclides is the evaluation of the dosimetric impact and the impact on the quality of medical images of any radioisotopic contaminants produced.
Contacts: Laura De Nardo
