Conference & Meetings World Supplements Canada Supplement | Page 17

Saskatoon
vaccine and seeking regulatory
approval for use in Canada and
the US. This virus has killed eight
million piglets in North America and
cost swine producers more than
CAD$400m in lost income.
The University’s researchers
are also building on pioneering
nuclear imaging work with today’s
disruptive technology - a new
method for producing medical
isotopes without using a nuclear
reactor or creating radioactive
waste.
Canadian Isotopes Innovation,
a branch of the U of S-owned
Canadian Light Source, produces
Technetium-99m (Tc-99m), a
specific type of isotope used for
medical diagnostic tests.
And, using the U of S state-of-the-
art cyclotron, medical researchers
are producing a radioactive
tracer, FDG, used for diagnosis and
treatment of cancer. Since June of
2016, they have been supplying
Royal University Hospital with FDG,
enabling 2,000 patients to receive
PET/CT scans right close to their
Above:
Saskatoon
Fedoruk Centre
Research
The SCCS
provides
companies
with
access to
specialised
facilities and
expertise to
accelerate
new nuclear
medical
technologies
homes and families, instead of
having to travel to health centres in
other provinces.
This new capability has
created jobs for technicians and
highly qualified professionals in
Saskatchewan, with more to come.
The Saskatchewan Centre
for Cyclotron Sciences (SCCS),
manufacturer of the FDG isotope,
and located in the U of S. It is
another world-class scientific facility
for innovation in nuclear imaging
and treatment in living specimens:
plants, animals and humans. It
is owned by the University and
operated by the Sylvia Fedoruk
Canadian Centre for Nuclear
Innovation Inc.
With funding from the
Government of Saskatchewan and
Western Economic Diversification
Canada, the facility is integral
to research, training and
innovation in nuclear medicine
- including radiochemistry,
physics and development of new
radiopharmaceuticals for medical
imaging.
The investment enables the
SCCS to be a key part of a
growing nuclear imaging cluster
on campus that includes the
Canadian Light Source.
The SCCS builds upon the
university's pioneering research in
nuclear medicine and advances
research in the expanding fields
of molecular imaging, nuclear
medicine and other areas
of science that make use of
radioisotopes.
Since the SCCS was established
in 2016, it has provided medical
isotopes for nuclear imaging scans
of more than 5,000 patients in
Saskatchewan (at Royal University
Hospital), as well as in Alberta and
Manitoba to diagnose and treat
cancer.
The SCCS also provides
companies with access to
specialised facilities and expertise
to accelerate new nuclear
medical technologies towards the
marketplace.
The city of Saskatoon is also a
national leader in community-
engaged health research,
particularly in using robotic
technology – ‘Doctor in a box’
to deliver health care to remote
communities, while reducing costs
for the provincial health system.
New remote tele-robotic
health monitoring such as long-
distance ultrasound imaging is
changing how chronic diseases
are diagnosed and treated. One
of the pioneers, Dr Ivar Mendez,
is providing a service to northern
Saskatchewan that saved over
CAD$400,000 in one year in the
village of Pelican Narrows. Proof
that savings can be financial as
well as health-related.
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
17