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François GUERARDThe ExpAt project, coordinated by François Guérard (in the photo) from the CRCINA laboratory (UMR INSERM 1232 – ERL CNRS 6001) in Nantes, in collaboration with Nicolas Galland from the CEISAM laboratory (UMR CNRS 6230) in Nantes, was awarded ANR Young Researcher funding (CES07).

The project aims to explore new chemical forms of astatine, a radioactive element whose properties are still little known, and more particularly the bond astatine forms with certain metals for which high affinity is expected.

The aim is to develop strategies for forming bonds between astatine and metal for evaluation purposes, more particularly in terms of chemical stability. Eventually, the discoveries arising from this study could help develop new strategies for the radioactive labeling of molecules targeting cancers with astatine-211, an alpha-particle emitting isotope that selectively destroys the targeted tumor cells.

This study fits into the wide-ranging Nantes project for the development of radiopharmaceuticals for nuclear oncology, backed more particularly by the Future Investments Program (IRON laboratory of excellence and ArronaxPlus equipment of excellence), the NExT project via the IRC Transformed, and the SIRIC ILIAD.