The New World of Work / McMaster & WWII / Then and Now

LIFE
SAVER

How McMasters nuclear reactor

(and the iodine-125 it produces)
helped save the life of
Alan Switzer 72

THE NEWSMAGAZINE FOR McMASTER UNIVERSITY ALUMNI

FA L L 2 0 1 4

VOL. 29, NO. 2 - FALL 2014

contents

Features
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21
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32

Life Saver
The New World of Work
McMaster & World War II
Then & Now

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$50 million gift from DeGroote

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Cruikshank named Dean of Humanities

Yusuf inducted into Medical Hall of Fame
Scientists find kryptonite for superbugs

Regulars

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MEET McMASTER
ALUMNI ALBUM
IN MEMORIAM

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The New World of Work / McMaster & WWII / Then and Now

On the cover

McMaster alumnus Alan Switzer, a

prostate cancer survivor, examines a

LIFE
SAVER

vial of iodine-125, a medical isotope

How McMasters nuclear reactor

(and the iodine-125 it produces)
helped save the life of
Alan Switzer 72

produced at the McMaster Nuclear

Editorial Communications
905-525-9140, ext. 23662
mactimes@mcmaster.ca

Reactor and used in Switzers

treatment. Story on page 14
THE NEWSMAGAZINE FOR McMASTER UNIVERSITY ALUMNI

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Contributors
Andrew Baulcomb 08, Colin Czerneda 05, Patrick Deane 11 (honorary),

Michelle Donovan, Wade Hemsworth 87, Karen McQuigge 90,

Allyson Rowley, Sandra Stephenson 78.
Officers, Alumni Association
Mark Stewart 06 & 10, president; Bill McLean 90, past-president; Sandra Stephenson 78, vice-president; Don Bridgman 78,
financial advisor; Brian Bidulka 87, member-at-large; Elaine Kunda 95, member-at-large; Brad Merkel 85, member-at-large; Krishna
Nadella, member-at-large; 02 Don Simpson 79, member-at-large; Jennifer Mitton 99, member-at-large; Erin Robertson 07, member-

Cert no. SW-COC-2113

at-large; Norm Schleehahn, member-at-large; Chedo Sobot 85, member-at-large; 91 David Feather 85 & 89, member-at-large;
Stephanie McLarty 03, member-at-large; Tanya Walker 02, member-at-large.

The wood in this product comes from well-managed

forests, independently certified in accordance with
the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council.

Representatives to the University Senate

Representatives to the University Board of Governors

Ian Cowan 71 & 76; Peter Tice 72; Suzanne Craven 73;

Quentin Broad 86, 88; David Feather 85 & 89; Brad

Dennis Souder 70

Merkel 85; David Lazzarato 79; Howard Shearer 77;

Mark Stewart 06.

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News

L FE
SAVER
It produces life-saving medical therapeutics. It helps
date ancient archeological artifacts. Its used to
inspect the turbine blades in most of North Americas
commercial aircraft. But the McMaster Nuclear
Reactor (MNR) is perhaps best-known as a major
supplier of the radioisotope iodine-125, used in the
treatment of prostate cancer. Just ask Alan Switzer.
By Allyson Rowley

14

dailynews.mcmaster.ca

The MNR is not a power

plant that produces
electricity. Its a research
reactor that produces
neutrons.

LIFE SAVER

JD HOWELL
Science Media Lab

s a young boy in the fall of 1957, he and his pals

would play baseball on the west side of the McMaster campus. Their curiosity was piqued by a 15-sided
hole in the ground. It was the new reactor, recalls
Alan Switzer 72. Over the next year, he watched the
structure take shape, barely a half-kilometre from his
family home, sometimes daring to look over the edge of
the construction site when work was done for the day.
It was quite something.
Officially launched on April 10, 1959 by then-prime
minister John Diefenbaker, the McMaster Nuclear
Reactor was the first university-based research reactor
in the British Commonwealth. It was a remarkable feat
for the time, but McMaster was undeniably the right
place. The Nuclear Research Building had been built in
1951 it housed the first radioisotope lab of its kind in a
Canadian university and McMaster was already a hub
of nuclear talent.
Chief among this talent was a professor of chemistry
named Harry Thode. He and his colleagues convinced
government and industry funders that a research reactor
was vital for Canadas scientific and economic progress.
Thode, who had made a mark for himself and his
McMaster team during the war effort, also reassured

Every year, up to 2,500 visitors tour the McMaster Nuclear Reactor to learn about
nuclear science and to observe the blue glow of the reactor core. Designed as a
multi-purpose research facility, the MNR is used for medical, industrial, scientific and
educational purposes. One of its main products is iodine-125, so named because it has 53
protons and 72 neutrons.

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15

concerned citizens that the University had been safely conducting nuclear research for more than 15 years.
We must remain in the forefront of medical research and, most
importantly, we must train research workers capable of utilizing and
developing the potentialities of nuclear energy, said Thode, who would
go on to serve as McMasters president and vice-chancellor from 1961
to 1972.
Fifty-five years later, Thodes vision remains intact and then some.
The McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR) is the largest research reactor
at a Canadian university and the centrepiece
for an impressive range of interdisciplinary learning and research across medicine, engineering, science and the
Whats so great
social sciences.
about neutrons?
This past July, the MNR
celebrated the renewal of its
Neutrons are sub-atomic
license by the Canadian Nuparticles with no electric
clear Safety Commission. The
charge. They are useful
unprecedented 10-year period
as non-destructive tools
for the new license is a vote of
to probe the microscopic
confidence in the MNRs safety
structure of materials.
record, its highly skilled personnel
and its teaching and research mandate.

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dailynews.mcmaster.ca

LIFE SAVER

JD HOWELL
JD HOWELL

When people come for a tour of the planetarium and then the reactor, we tell them theyre going from outer space to inner space, says Chris Heysel
(left), McMasters director of nuclear operations and facilities, with Alan Switzer 72.

The reactor is, in fact, only one of a number of facilities on campus

that collectively employ more than 1,000 people licensed to safely
undertake radiation work. Associate vice-president of research Fiona
McNeill notes that McMaster is home to a unique array of research
facilities, including hot cells, a cyclotron and three linear accelerators.
We are a world leader in nuclear research, says McNeill, a professor of
medical physics and applied radiation sciences.
Now a fully self-supporting operation, the MNR offers products and
services to academic, medical and industrial clients around the world.
We run it like a for-profit business but our shareholders are our students and researchers, says Chris Heysel, director of nuclear operations
and facilities, who oversees the reactors 35 staff members. He estimates
that, in any given year, 100 researchers and graduate students use the
reactor and about 25 undergraduate labs take place.
Another big part of our job is reaching out to the community, says
Heysel. Up to 2,500 high school and college students tour the facility
every year. The tours offer a glimpse into the inner workings of the
reactor, including the pool of water that serves to both moderate and
cool the reactor core. One of the myths he dispels is that the MNR is a
power plant. We produce neutrons, not electricity.
Some of those neutrons made their way into the medical isotope
that would save Alan Switzers life. Diagnosed with prostate cancer in
the fall of 2005, Switzer made sure to do his research. He opted for
brachytherapy, a form of internal radiotherapy that implants seeds to

The MNR is licensed to operate

up to 5 megawatts, whereas a
reactor at a power plant would be
licensed to operate up to about
2,000 megawatts.

LIFE SAVER
JD HOWELL

Diagnosed with prostate

cancer in 2005, Switzer
did his research. He
opted for brachytherapy
(from the Greek brachys,
meaning short distance),
a form of internal
radiotherapy that implants
seeds to target the
diseased tissue with
enormous precision.

Mac alumnus Alan Switzer points to his childhood home, barely a half-kilometre from
where an intriguing 15-sided structure was taking shape. It was the McMaster Nuclear
Reactor, which produced the medical isotope that would help save his life almost 50 years
later.

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Mr. Isotope of Canada

LIFE SAVER

Harry Thode (1910-1997) led the transformation of McMaster University from a small
liberal arts college to the globally ranked
research university it is today. As a chemist
and nuclear scientist (whose work earned
him the moniker Mr. Isotope of Canada), he
was the driving force behind the building of
a reactor, which established McMaster as a
major research centre. As McMasters second president and vice-chancellor, he oversaw the expansion of graduate programs
and played a key role in the creation of the
Faculty of Engineering, a new Arts complex
and the Health Sciences Centre.

target the diseased tissue with enormous precision. A health physicist determined his exact
dose, Switzer explains, and the procedure was mapped out to the millimetre. Its quite a
science, he says.
The MNR produces the iodine-125 and ships it around the world to processing facilities,
which encapsulate the liquid into titanium seeds about the size of a grain of rice. The seeds
are then sent to cancer treatment centres. Heysel estimates the MNR produces enough I-125
to treat up to 100 patients a day.
Its all about harnessing the natural radioactive decay properties of matter, explains Andrea
Armstrong, a research scientist at the MNR, who is working on developing new medical
isotopes for other cancer treatments. The fact that radioactivity is a naturally occurring
phenomenon is often the first
thing I talk about when Im
lecturing, she says.
REA CTO R
Six months after Switzers
M9
surgery in 2006, he was
functioning normally again,
and eight years later hes in
remission. He works as a
consultant, plays golf and is a
keen supporter of Movember
(see sidebar). Its important
to pay attention to prostate
cancer, which is something
of a poor cousin, he says.
He was pleasantly surprised
to learn that his alma mater
played a role in his successful treatment. Yes, its
rather ironic, says SwitFloats
zer. Things have come
Planned
full circle.
vi i i

j.

A f 'r M

- .s i e r

n iv e r s ity

m e

An important milestone in the

'

advancement of Canadas plan to put

U.S.

the peaceful atom to work for the

benefit of humanity. The nuclear
reactor was big news on campus in 1956:

Some of the steps in the production of iodine 125, used in cancer

treatments around the world.
The MNR produces enough I-125
to treat 100 patients a day.
PHOTO CREDITS: MIKE LALICH

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Degrees

Nobel-winning research

LIFE SAVER

Last fall, McMaster staff participated in a fundraising campaign for Movember,

the global mens health charity that encourages men to grow a mustache during
November, while raising money for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health. The McMaster Nuclear Reactor is a major supplier of the radioisotope
iodine-125, used in the treatment of prostate cancer. They produce enough I-125
to treat 100 Dads a day.

CHRIS HEYSEL

Mustaches for Mens Health

Bertram Brockhouse (1918-2003) was a Canadian physicist who conducted pioneering

research into neutron spectroscopy and neutron scattering techniques (important for understanding the atomic structure of a material). A professor of physics at McMaster from
1962 until his retirement in 1982, Brockhouse
received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1994,
shared with American physicist, Clifford G.
Shull (1915-2001). Brockhouses memory lives
on at McMaster in Brockhouse Way and the
Brockhouse Institute for Materials Science,
an interdisciplinary research powerhouse
founded in 1969.

Nuclear alumni
Many McMaster alumni are leaders in nuclear research, working in the health care
sector, academia and government. Here are only three:
Bruce Gaulin, PhD 86. Director of McMasters Brockhouse Institute for Materials
Research, a McMaster professor of physics and astronomy, and the Brockhouse Chair
in the Physics of Materials.
Thom Mason, PhD 90, DSc 13. Laboratory director of the Oak Ridge National
Laboratory in Tennessee.
John Valliant, BScH 93, PhD 97. Professor of chemistry at McMaster and CEO of
the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization, a not-for-profit company
located on the McMaster campus that is developing molecular imaging probes (these
allow physicians to non-invasively see the molecular processes that lead to disease).

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