$1M funding enables upgrades at TRIUMF lab

Vancouver, BC – Canada’s National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics (TRIUMF) has received nearly $1 million to upgrade essential infrastructure and acquire equipment that creates positron emission radiopharmaceuticals (PERs). The $911,000 funding is being provided by the federal government.

PERs are essential for positron emission tomography (PET) scanning and the upgraded equipment will ensure the facility has continued compliance with industry standards. PET imaging is the core of the TRIUMF nuclear medicine program.

“The promise of nuclear medicine is its potential to understand the individual diagnosis and treatment plan for each person in real time and non-invasively” said Dr Thomas J Ruth, senior scientist jointly at TRIUMF and the BC Cancer Agency. He adds that the funding “will not only move forward our research programs with the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre and the BC Cancer Agency in understanding movement disorders and cancer, but it will also enhance our efforts bring these results into the clinic following the strictest quality controls for use with humans.”