Funding announced for nuclear research cyclotron in Saskatoon

The federal and provincial governments will be investing $17 million for an advanced research cyclotron in Saskatoon it was announced on Friday morning.

This comes two days after the provincial government announced $30 million in funding for a new nuclear research centre at the University of Saskatchewan.

“Our Government understands the importance of scientific innovation,” Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said in committing $7 million from federal government to the project.

The remaining $10 million is coming from the provincial government.

“The addition of a major research cyclotron on campus builds of Premier Wall’s announcement earlier this week of $30 million to establish a new centre for research in nuclear medicine and materials science at the U of S,” said Rob Norris, Minister responsible for Innovation in the province.

When completed, the cyclotron will be able to support research into production of Technetium-99, the most widely used medical isotopes in the world.

Another feature of the new cyclotron will be the capability of producing short-lived radioactive isotopes used in Position Emission Tomography – Computed Tomography (PET-CT) scans which will support a new provincial PET-CT medical imaging program which was also announced Friday morning.

University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon welcomes the investments, saying “the cyclotron and PET/CT scan are critical components for our vision to lead the country in nuclear medicine.”

$6 million will be invested in PET-CT scan services for Saskatchewan. $4 million is coming from the provincial government and $2 million from the Royal University Hospital Foundation.

PET scans provide clinical information not available from MRI exams or CT scans. PET scans are mainly used during cancer treatment.

Currently, nearly 300 people from Saskatchewan travel out-of-province each year to obtain PET scans. Once operational, the scanner will have the capacity to provide around 2,000 scans yearly.

The new cyclotron will be located on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan.