The purpose of the Life Sciences Working Group is to provide a forum for ICRM members to address radionuclide metrology issues as they relate to the life sciences. Issues may include, but are not limited to: development of methodologies to calibrate short-lived radionuclides of interest in nuclear medicine, measurement of decay properties (half-lives, decay energies and probabilities, etc.) of radionuclides used in nuclear medicine and biological research, and development of measurement methodologies for transferring National Measurement Standards to the clinic and research laboratory. The Working Group will facilitate finding solutions to these problems through workshops, publications, electronic communications (i.e., email), and collaborative work.

The most recent interim meeting of the Life Sciences Working Group (LSWG) was held at The Istituto Nazionale di Metrologia delle Radiazioni Ionizzanti (ENEA-INMRI) in, Rome, Italy on 10-11 November 2016. The agenda and participants of the meeting are presented here. Those interested in a topic of discussion are invited to contact the presenter or the coordinator.

Thursday, 10th

Welcome, Introductions, Review of Agenda
Brief descriptions of Life Sciences programs and key personnel (All)

New Developments
Recent Standardizations and Measurements (All)
Discussion (All)

New Standardizations
Standardization of Cu-67 at IFIN-HH (Maria Sahagia)
Collaborations for uncommon radionuclides (All)

Comparisons
68Ge/68Ga Comparison Update (Jeff Cessna)
68Ge standardization at ANSTO (Freda van Wyngaardt)
Discussion of comparison needs (All)

Nuclear Data
Nuclear data evaluation for I-124 (Brian Zimmerman)
Discussion of nuclear data needs (All)

Interactions with measurement community
IRA portable precision ionization chamber (Claude Bailat)
Discussion: Do we need metrology for very short-lived radionuclides?
Discussion: Appropriateness of regular pressure chambers for normal doses versus “PET” chambers

Friday, 11th

Thorium-227
Th-227: Determination of the act and half-life (Karsten Kossert)
NPL experience/clinical measurements (John Keightley)
Discussion (All)

Radionuclide calibrators
MRTDosimetry: development of a new radionuclide calibrator for high-energy pure β-emitters(Cheick Thiam)
Secondary standards for Cu-64 at NIST (Denis Bergeron)
Discussion (All)

Monte Carlo Simulation of Beta emitters in Radionuclide Calibrators
Comparing Monte Carlo Calculations of Bremsstrahlung Production from Copper Foils Due To Electron Point Sources: EGSnrc, Geant4 and MCNP5 (John Paul Archambault)
MetroBETA and Bremsstrahlung Measurements at IRA (Frédéric Juget)
Discussion of Monte Carlo comparison (Brian Zimmerman)

Radionuclide Production for Nuclear Medicine
Measurements at ENEA for production of 99mTc alternative methods (Marco Capogni)
Discussion (All)

Quantitative Imaging
Use of calibrated phantoms to evaluate quantification accuracy of PET for Cu-64 (Brian Zimmerman)
Establishing validated quantitative SPECT imaging at NPL (Andrew Robinson)
Discussion (All)

General discussions
Discussion of problems and needs in Life Sciences (All)
Future actions and meetings of the working group (All)
Any other business (All)

End of meeting

Participants List

John Paul ARCHAMBAULT, NRC, Canada
Denis BERGERON, NIST, USA
Claude BAILAT, IRA, Switzerland
Ryszard BRODA, NCBJ RC POLATOM, Poland
Marco CAPOGNI, ENEA - INMRI, Italy
Jeffrey CESSNA, NIST, USA
Vanessa CHISTÉ, LNHB, France
Marco D'ARIENZO, ENEA - INMRI, Italy
Salvatore DONATIELLO, OPBG, Italy
Andrew FENWICK, NPL, UK
Frédéric JUGET, IRA, Switzerland
Gro Elisabeth HJELLUM, Bayer AS, Norway
John KEIGHTLEY, NPL, UK
Karsten KOSSERT, PTB, Germany
Anna LISTKOWSKA, NCBJ RC POLATOM, Poland
Youcef NEDJADI, IRA, Switzerland
Maria Teresa DURÁN RAMIRO, IRA, Switzerland
Andrew ROBINSON, NPL, UK
Maria SAHAGIA, IFIN-HH, Romania
Cheick THIAM, LNHB, France
Freda VAN WYNGAARDT, ANSTO, Australia
Tomasz ZIEMEK, NCBJ RC POLATOM, Poland
Brian ZIMMERMAN, NIST, USA

Status of action items:

• 124I Comparison (new): The possibility of a comparison, through the LS-WG, was discussed at the Rome interim WG meeting. A pilot is needed. NIST, IFIN-HH, ENEA, NPL, and PTB (if the is no I-125) expressed interest in participation. This will provide an opportunity for more half-life determinations.
• 227Th Comparison (new): The future need for a comparison of this radionuclide was discussed at the Rome interim WG meeting. Bayer AS expressed a willingness to support this comparison. The comparison would, presumably, follow a 223Ra comparison.
• Coordination of efforts for new radionuclides (new): Contact the LS-WG coordinator to transmit requests to other WG members regarding coordination of efforts for new or uncommon radionuclides. There is the opportunity to coordinate with CIEAMT and NPL on the standardization of 89Zr.
• Metrology for short-lived radionuclides? (new): Motivation or justification papers for the need of metrology in the case of short-lived radionuclides is requested. Send any information to the LS-WG coordinator. The possibility of a workshop to bring together stakeholders and produce a position paper was discussed.
• Coordinated collection of Ionization Chamber response curves (proposed): This action will be introduced by Brian Zimmerman at the ICRM meeting in 2017. The effort would build upon data collected for radionuclide calibrators by metrology institutes. Curve generation would follow an updated SOLVER method. NIST, IRA, CEA, NPL, PTB, ANSTO, and NRC have expressed interest. A protocol for collection will be generated. The collection will aid in the prediction of new calibration factors, especially in complicated parent-daughter situations, such as 227Th.
• 68Ge/68Ga comparison (ongoing): The comparison, CCRI(II)-K2.Ge-68, is complete. Results will be presented at ICRM 2017.
• Formation of an informal subcommittee to investigate simulation of beta emitter response in RC (ongoing/on hold): A detailed study of the influence of various quantities on Monte-Carlo modelling was presented by NRC-Canada at the Rome interim WG meeting. Prior plans for a comparison using a simple geometry have been put on hold. This action has been replaced with the coordinated collection exercise mention above.
• Emphasize importance of measuring nuclear data for nuclear medicine radionuclides (ongoing): Working group members wish to emphasize the importance of measuring nuclear data for nuclear medicine radionuclides.
• Collecting activity calibrator factors for medical radionuclides in different ionization chambers (ongoing): The database is updated as needed and is available from the coordinator. An offer has been made by NPL to host the database on their website. Discussions ensued regarding the best form to present information, spreadsheet or database. Appropriate disclaimers are need for the data. A link from the working group homepage will be provided if this can be established. Many NPL-type chamber calibration figures did not contain reference to publication. This will be remedied with the publication of updated calibration figures in the proceedings of ICRM 2017.
• Sharing of software for automation of radionuclide calibrators (ongoing): Individuals who have developed freely available software for this purpose are requested to provide that software to the coordinator, for distribution to the LSWG.
• Comparison of 90Y with portable TDCR: This comparison was proposed in support of the MetroMRT joint research project of the European Metrology Research Programme. The eventual goal would be direct measurement of 90Y microspheres. An update is needed for this project.
• Compile a list of comparisons in nuclear medicine (ongoing): The proposed list would serve as a basis for future reviews of similar comparisons. A bibliography has been created in support of investigations into radionuclide calibrators. This bibliography is available from the coordinator. Please forward publications to the coordinator for inclusion in the list.
• Create repository for information on dissolution of microspheres (ongoing): This action would support MetroMRT. Please submit methods and experience to the coordinator. The experiences of LNHB and NPL were presented at the recent WG interim meeting and have now been published. ENEA is also working in this area and will report their results in the future.
• Questionaire - what radionuclide calibrators/ionization chambers are used in your institute to support nuclear medicine? (ongoing): To support interaction between laboratories information is requested regarding what models of radionuclide calibrators or ionization chambers are used in support of nuclear medicine at your institute. Information has still only been provided by ENEA-INMRI. Please provide information to the coordinator for distribution to working group members.
• Support for measurements of impurities in nuclear medicine radionuclides (ongoing): Members have been requested to provide support or suggest methods for the measurement of impurities in nuclear medicine products. This is of importance when new production methods can introduce different impurities than previously seen for established radionuclides, such as 99Mo and 99mTc. Two papers that touch on this topic are accepted in the Radionuclide Metrology in the Life Sciences session at the ICRM 2017 congress.
• Comparison of activity of a 223Ra solution (ongoing): A comparison under the auspices of CCRI(II), has been planned, to be piloted by NPL. NPL is soliciting participants and comments on the proposed protocol.

The next meeting of the LSWG is planned be held during the next ICRM congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina on May 15, 2017. Topics of discussion being considered include the current action items. Those laboratories having any work they wish to present or action items to propose are requested to contact the coordinator.

The LSWG web page may be found here: http://physics.nist.gov/ICRM/working_groups.html#LS

J.T. Cessna, Coordinator

National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Dr., Stop 8462
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8462
USA
jeffrey.cessna@nist.gov
Phone: +1 301 975 5539
Fax: +1 301 926 7416