NSERC and CIHR support research into medical isotope alternatives

NSERC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are pleased to announce the results of the Open Grants Alternative Radiopharmaceuticals for Medical Imaging Competition.  Seven projects are being funded across Canada by NSERC and CIHR. The two agencies are jointly providing a total of $5.4 million to seek non-nuclear reactor technology alternatives to Technetium-99m, an isotope commonly used in medical imaging procedures. The  funding competition was launched in June 2009, and 19 applications were received. NSERC and CIHR are collaborating on this initiative because supporting multidisciplinary teams of researchers from the health sciences, physics, chemistry and engineering is viewed as the best way to accelerate research in the quest to find isotopes that can be used to replace Technetium-99m.