The CERAD cyclotron designed and built by the Belgian company Ion Beam Applications S.A. has been installed at the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) in Świerk. The cyclotron will accelerate protons and alpha particles to an energy of 30 MeV and deuterons to an energy of 15 MeV.

The device is one of the most advanced cyclotrons in the world and one of three that can accelerate three different charged particles.

Thanks to it, research into new radiopharmaceuticals, particularly those specifically designed to meet the needs of individual patients, will be possible at Świerk.

“We are joining an elite group of scientific research units with unique research equipment, i.e. a cyclotron accelerating protons, deuterons and alpha particles. Thanks to this device, we will be able to produce radioactive isotopes hitherto hardly available in Poland. This opens up the field for the design of innovative drugs, which we will produce at CERAD”, said Prof Renata Mikołajczak of NCBJ.

The new CERAD laboratory complex in Świerk is almost complete. It will offer scientists 2,500 m2 of research and infrastructure space. The buildings of the complex are being equipped with top-class research and production equipment.

Research will be conducted here primarily by scientists from the universities and institutes that are part of the CERAD project, i.e. the NCBJ, the University of Warsaw, the Institute of Chemistry and Nuclear Technology, the Medical University of Warsaw, the Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum and the Medical University of Białystok.

They will search for new radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis and therapy. With a wide range of radioactive isotopes produced in the cyclotron or in a reactor also operating at NCBJ, it will be possible to design isotopic tracers enabling earlier and more precise detection of diseases and, consequently, earlier implementation of appropriate therapeutic procedures.

Adrian Andrzejewski