Thomas J. RUTH
TRIUMF

Production of Radioisotopes for Research in Bioscience and Physical Science

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Radioisotopes have long been used as tracers in the biological and physical sciences. TRIUMF with its 5 cyclotrons represents the most powerful radioisotope production facility in the world. The Life Science Program at TRIUMF has exploited this capability for more than 2 decades in its applications in positron emission tomography with collaborations with the Faculty of Medicine at UBC in studying Parkinson's disease.

For the last decade research into the use of nitrogen in various plant systems has been explored with the tracer N-13. More recently studies in fluid dynamics for the pulp and paper industry have made use of wood fibers labeled with F-18 to study the factors affecting paper quality.

The applications of radiotracers to understand fundamental phenomena are almost limitless. However, there are numerous constraints to exploiting this method, not the less of which is communicating across disciplines. Examples illustrating various levels of success will be presented along with possible applications for the future.

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