CERN-MEDICIS: A Unique Facility for the Production of Non-Conventional Radionuclides for the Medical Research

The MEDICIS facility is a unique facility located at CERN dedicated to the production of non-conventional radionuclides for research and development in imaging, diagnostics and radiation therapy. It exploits in a Class A work sector, a dedicated isotope separator beam line, a target irradiation station at the 1.4 GeV Proton Synchroton Booster (PSB) and receives activated targets from external institutes during CERN Long Shut-Downs. The target is heated up at high temperatures to allow for the diffusion and effusion of the atoms out of the target that are subsequently ionized. The ions are accelerated and sent through an off-line mass separator. The radionuclide of interest is extracted through mass separation and implanted into a thin metallic collection foil. After collection, the batch is prepared to be dispatched to a research center. In the near-future, the radiochemistry process will also be performed in MEDICIS. Since its commissioning in December 2017, the facility has provided novel radionuclides such as Tb-149, Tb-155, Tm-165, Er-169 and Yb-175 with high specific activity, some for the first time, to European research institutes part of the collaboration.