On Jan 20th 2012, the Globe and Mail had a piece of article on the use of Technetium-99m in nuclear medicine without requiring production of its “neutron rich” parent, Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which is created in a nuclear reactor by bombarding natural occuring Mo-98 (~25% natural abundance) with a neutron flux. The aging Chalk River nuclear reactor currently produces 40% of worldwide supply of this isotope for medical use.

In fact, London is involved in the production of Technetium-99m from a cyclotron, which is located at the St Joseph’s Hospital. ( http://communications.uwo.ca/com/western_news/stories/schulich_assistant_professor_to_develop_non-reactor_based_isotopes_20110203447355/ )

Digging deeper, this involves using a cyclotron (proton beam) to create Technetium-99m by knocking out a proton from Mo-100 (~10% natural abundance) when Mo-100 is used as a target. For more details, see http://medicalphysicsweb.org/cws/article/research/47248 .

This is an example of how basic science can help solve a problem in medicine.