What is a Cyclotron?
A cyclotron is a particle accelerator and the key technology behind radiation therapy with proton beams, and may also enable the production of medical radioisotopes. The UCT Cyclotron facility will feature a multi-particle, multi-energy cyclotron (30 MeV) of a type that presently does not exist in the Southern Hemisphere.
The cyclotron we install will have the flexibility allow the production of routine medical radioisotopes and those which are emerging as new life-changing tools for medical imaging and treatment. Some radioisotopes decay very fast making it important to produce them close to where they are needed at a hospital. Others have much longer half lives and are suitable for export including for the production of radiopharmaceuticals for Targeted Alpha Therapy.
The facility will also include a dedicated research vault providing charged-particle and neutron beams to support research, innovation and postgraduate training across medicine, imaging, physics, engineering, space science, radiation metrology, radiobiology and neuroscience.
More updates coming soon