The Nantes astatine project selected by the European Research Council

François Guérard, INSERM UMR 1307 / CNRS UMR 6075, CRCI2NA, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie et Immunologie Intégrée Nantes Angers, has been awarded a consolidation grant from the European Research Council for his project “SAt-Radio : Stable 211At-labeled radiopharmaceuticals for targeted α therapy”.

The SAt-Radio project will allow for innovative research on the chemistry of one the most mysterious chemical element of the periodic table with the hope that discoveries will be made to benefit cancer patients. Its objective is to explore alternative binding modalities to C-At binding in order to develop new radiolabeling approaches with a better in vivo stability. The strategies developed will exploit both the halogen and metallic character of At, using analytical and computational approaches

The Nantes nuclear oncology team has been involved for twenty years in the development of a targeted radionuclide therapy using astatine 211, with the support of the Cancéropôle Grand Ouest, the LabEx IRON, the SIRIC ILIAD and the Arronax Nantes community. Fruitful collaboration with Nicolas Galland (Ceisam) and Gilles Montavon (Subatech) is expected. Others will be developed over the next five years.

In 2022, 321 researchers were awarded European Research Council consolidation grants. With 2,222 applications submitted in 2022, this represents a success rate of 14%. France was awarded 41 grants. This funding, worth a total of 657 million euros, is part of the EU’s Horizon Europe program and is aimed at scientists, who have 7 to 12 years of experience after their PhD.

Contact : François Guerard