Carbon Ion Radiobiology

Heavy ion beam model for radiobiology.

An ad hoc model of energetic heavy ion beams, including secondary and tertiary particles, has been constructed for predicting radiobiological experiments. While the beam model is relatively primitive, it yields depth-dose and depth-radiobiological calculations in good agreement with experiment upstream of the Bragg peak. Beyond the peak, the model is somewhat coarse grained and seems to underes...

Proton Radiobiology

In addition to the physical advantages (Bragg peak), the use of charged particles in cancer therapy can be associated with distinct biological effects compared to X-rays. While heavy ions (densely ionizing radiation) are known to have an energy- and charge-dependent increased Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE), protons should not be very different from sparsely ionizing photons. A slightly...

Radiobiology for Space Research

Radiobiology Cell Survival

The loss of proliferative potential of a cell is often equated to cell kill, and many studies of the cellular effects of radiation (both ionising and non-ionising) utilise this definition of cell kill to define cell survival. To measure cell survival using this paradigm, a cell culture that has been exposed to a known dose of radiation is cultured and, at a predefined time post irradiation, the...

Fundamental space radiobiology.

The unique feature of the space radiation environment is the dominance of high-energy charged particles (HZE or high LET radiation) emitted by the Sun and galactic sources, or trapped in the Van Allen radiation belts. These charged particles present a significant hazard to space flight crews, and accelerator-based experiments are underway to quantify the health risks due to unavoidable radiatio...