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Issued: March, 2010

You have to be keen to visit the Southeast of America (Knoxville, Tennessee) in an unusually cold winter. Roads close, snow falls and makes the roads greasy and it's so cold that people are so rugged up they seem insular in their insulation - things we rarely see in Australia. So was it on arrival at the airport in Knoxville in December 2009.

What was I doing at Knoxville in the dead of winter? Attending a cyclotron engineer's course at the PETNET Solutions HQ, where they build the Siemens PET/CT Cameras, the Eclipse Cyclotrons and Explora chemistry modules.

While the PETNET Solutions HQ is lesser known, the area is renowned for some significant places of interest in the Civil War, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratories of nuclear fame, of which I had the opportunity to see a few.

Working on my favourite machine, the Eclipse cyclotron was absolutely enthralling for the two and a half weeks I was there. There is always more to learn about this wonderful device. I really appreciate now the elegant design and robust engineering applied to the specific task of making F18 and related isotopes C11, N13 and O15.

It was a small study group of interesting colleagues from South America, Russia and North America. We all seemed to get along quite well and our meals were fun as we tried to negotiate the fast food restaurants of Knoxville which offer steak in any one of ten different chains all presenting the same food on the plate. Any yes, they do try to supersize you all the time!

It was sad that the roads to the Smoky Mountains were closed due to snow, and while I was disappointed to miss this great tourist attraction, this did at least give me more time for the folk history museum in the city and the ORNL Energy Museum.

Then home to Australia and the "twins" who are really two of the best behaved cyclotrons in the world, which are now routinely making FDG every working day.

And, to even more exciting news - the birth of our granddaughter Elodie Grace who joined the family on 5 February 2010 to be loved and nurtured by all. How good to be back!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about PETNET Solutions. I am more than happy to answer these as well as discuss your current or future needs for PET biomarkers.

Kind regards,

John Hodder | General Manager | PETNET Solutions