Stellenbosch University (SU) and high-tech company Enlightened Isotopes, a subsidiary of ASP Isotopes, have entered into an R8.5-million research partnership to develop a protocol for the separation of the ytterbium-176 isotope, to be used as a radiopharmaceutical in cancer therapy. Worldwide, isotope producing companies are looking for alternative technologies as traditional sources, mostly nuclear reactors, are coming to the end of their life cycles.