2020-10-04 20:07:48
It is not hidden from anyone that when we enter a dark place, the best way to see the environment is to illuminate it with a light source. This simple and daily action becomes the underlying idea when handling molecules in a branch of knowledge called Radiochemistry. George WolfPrincipal Investigator of the Radiochemistry and Nuclear Imaging Group at the Biomaterials Cooperative Research Center CICbiomaGUNE says that radiochemistry handles the same techniques as traditional chemistry but using radioactive atoms. “Basically – he comments – our job consists of choosing an organic molecule and adding a radioactive atom to it, which naturally decays and emits radiation that can be detected”. There you have it, that radioactive atom is a kind of atomic lantern that allows you to illuminate the environment and make it visible to professionals who are observing from the outside.
In the Radiochemistry and Nuclear Imaging Group, George Wolf and his team work in an area of radiochemistry that uses positron emission isotopes as a radioactive source. These isotopes are unstable atoms, such as Carbon 11 or Fluor 18, which, over time, emit an antiparticle, a positron, and transform into a different atom. One of the most widely used is carbon-11, which, after the emission of a positron, is transformed into boron 11. The positron is the antiparticle of the electron, that is, it has the mass of an electron but opposite charge. When the emitted positron meets an electron from the surrounding tissue, both annihilate and become two gamma rays that are emitted in opposite directions. The gamma rays come to be the photons of the atomic lantern that are detected from the outside to obtain the image of the place. This is the operating principle of devices called PET (Positron Emission Tomography) or Positron Emission Tomography used in many hospitals to obtain non-invasive images of cancer patients.
But the process of associating a radioactive atom with a specific molecule is not easy. The first thing you need is to have the right radioactive isotopes. To do this, at CICbiomaGUNE they have a cyclotron, that is, a donut-shaped device through which protons are circulated at high speed, thanks to an enormous magnetic field, and collide with nitrogen atoms to obtain the isotopes desired radioactive. Once obtained, the isotopes must be collected and chemically attached to a specific molecule, for example, glucose. The engineered glucose can be injected in minute doses into an experimental animal or a patient. Since cancer cells are large consumers of glucose, glucose preferentially accumulates in the tumor and becomes the light source that reveals its presence.
The process is highly demanding, both for the technology used and for the immediacy of use. The radioisotopes used have a short half-life and this forces a race against time for their use and thus obtain the desired results.
Jordi Llop and his team develop radiochemistry strategies that make it possible to convert small molecules and macromolecules (peptides, proteins or polymers) into radiomarkers. These radiation-emitting compounds, once introduced into laboratory animals or patients, make it possible to find out how molecules behave inside living organisms. The studies allow evaluating the properties of these molecules and their possible use as therapeutic agents. The imaging processes developed are those that subsequently allow us to investigate the biological processes that take place during degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis.
BiomaGUNE is considered a Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructure (ICTS) by the Government of Spain.
I invite you to listen to George WolfPrincipal Investigator of the Radiochemistry and Nuclear Imaging Group at the CICbiomaGUNE biomaterials cooperative research center.
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