Ag-111 radiopharmaceutical development in the context of the ISOLPHARM project: from radionuclides production to preclinical studies

Ag-111 is a radionuclide with promising features for nuclear medicine, particularly as a precursor for theranostic radiopharmaceuticals intended for Targeted Radionuclide Therapy. Preclinical studies, which are essential to assess the suitability of a radiopharmaceutical for its intended clinical application, are being conducted within the framework of the ISOLPHARM project. This project involves a wide collaboration of institutes and researchers, coordinated by the National Laboratories of Legnaro of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN-LNL). At this site, the SPES facility will host the production of Ag-111 via the ISOL technique. Thanks to a resonant ionisation laser ion source and a mass separation stage, the produced radionuclides can be collected with high specific activity. The work described in this thesis contributed to the development and installation of the experimental setup for the collection of the radionuclide. In parallel with the production activities, preclinical studies on Ag-111 were also carried out. To support these studies, two custom imaging devices were designed and built: one is sensitive to beta radiation and the other one to gamma radiation. These instruments were specifically tailored to the decay characteristics of Ag-111, to fully exploit its imaging potential. Their development was further supported by the creation of corresponding digital twins using the Geant4 simulation toolkit.