ModES: Investigating the chemistry of radionuclides

Involved members: Nicolas Galland (MC), Jérôme Graton (MC), Eric Renault (MC), Cecilia Gomez-Pech (PhD), Serigne Sarr (PhD)

Within this research area, our work mainly concerns the use in oncology of the 211 radioisotope of astatine (211At) in nuclear medecine. The principle is to label, with this radionuclide, a biological vector that will target tumor cells and destroy them, thanks to the alpha particles emitted during the nucleus decay. However, the binding of biomolecules with 211At remains a challenge that requires a minimum of understanding of the astatine chemistry (many of the basic chemical studies were set aside due to the few amounts of available astatine).

Working in close collaboration with the radiochemistry group at SUBATECH laboratory (UMR 6457), the team investigates the basic chemistry of astatine using quantum chemistry tools. The team expertise is also built through methodological developments (see Axis-1) in relativistic calculations and through the study of other radionuclides (44Sc, 210Po, 223Ra…).

Collaborations

  • Gilles Montavon (CNRS), SUBATECH UMR 6457 : équipe Radiochimie (link)
  • Julien Pilmé (Sorbonne Université), Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique UMR 7616 (link)
  • Florent Réal (Université Lille 1), PhLAM UMR 8523, équipe Modélisation Quantique des Systèmes (link)
  • Sebastian Rothe (European Organization for Nuclear Research), CERN : équipe ISOLDE (link)
  • François Guérard (CNRS), CRCINA UMR 1232 : équipe Oncologie nucléaire (link)
  • Cécile Perrio (CNRS), ISTCT UMR 6030 : équipe LDM-TEP (link)
  • David Deniaud (Université de Nantes), CEISAM : CORAIL Team