New Theory

Have you ever wondered how Spiderman, the Hulk, and the Fantastic Four all got their powers? By radiation, of course! Unfortunately, radioactive spiders aren’t wandering around every day to help mutate hapless bystanders into superheroes. The Characterization of Radiation for Biomedical Applications Creative Inquiry team hopes to use its research to design new radiation-based therapies to improve human health and, perhaps, inspire the science fiction lover in all of us. Though electron beam ion traps, liquid helium cooled chambers, and genetic modification may sound like they come from science fiction, these are just some of the real equipment and techniques used by this Creative Inquiry team to figure out how radiation can affect living tissues.

The goal of this Creative Inquiry team, led by Dr. Endre Takacs in Physics, Dr. Delphine Dean in Bioengineering, and graduate student, Matt Rusin, is to study the effect of radiation on cells. The effect of radiation on biology is something that has been studied for a very long time. Radiation has been used to treat cancer for more than 100 years. However, little is still known about how radiation can affect cells. Could we better tune radiation treatments to protect surrounding healthy tissues while still killing tumors? Could radiation be used for other therapeutic strategies? These are just some of the questions this team hopes to tackle. “The emphasis for this project is on students driving it forward. This would be the overarching goal for the Creative Inquiry,” Rusin stated.

The team’s research takes a cross-disciplinary approach to investigating the effects of monochromatic X-ray radiation on cells, so as to lead to advances in health care in the areas of cancer treatment and other genetic disorders. The team is broken into an experimental group and a theoretical group. The experimental group deals with the laboratory research, such as growing cells, and creating parts and apparatuses for the radiation source. The theoretical group is creating a computer with predictive powers to aid in understanding and discovering the various phenomena the experimental team is measuring. For Katelyn Truong, a freshman Bioengineering major, the most challenging part of the project has been understanding aspects of the research that do not specifically pertain to her major. “I was exposed to a lot of physics that I had not learned before. Additionally, I had to learn about freezing, growing, and passaging cells,” Truong said.

The characterization of radiation includes learning the properties of the radiation that exits the machine, such as its frequency range and polarity. The frequency range gives information on the energy of the radiation. Radiation at different energies will interact differently with the molecules that make up cells, such as DNA, proteins, and phospholipids. The polarity provides information on how the radiation interact with biological materials.

Currently, the team has focused its attention on generating monochromatic radiation. By using an electron beam ion trap (EBIT), they are able to create X-ray radiation in a very narrow frequency band, i.e. monochromatic or “one colored.” This EBIT machine is currently one of only two in the U.S. However, it is not currently set up to operate with cell cultures. Much of the team’s current work entails learning as much as possible about the EBIT and designing the special parts and accessories necessary to carry out the cell-based research. Meanwhile, the students are culturing a variety of cells including cardiovascular, bone, and cancer cell types. They are optimizing culture conditions to ensure that the culture substrate doesn’t interfere with the radiation from the EBIT.

This Creative Inquiry team is dedicated to thinking of creative ways to learn about the effects of radiation on biological materials in order to yield more in-depth knowledge. “I joined this project because I believe it has the potential to make a huge difference in people’s lives. If we discover a safer, more effective treatment method for cancer, it will save lives. That’s the bottom line,” explained Joey Wilson, a sophomore Bioengineering and Political Science major. While superpowers from radiation may be not be possible, this team hopes that by understanding the basic science of how radiation interacts with our cells, it might eventually be able to create novel therapies and treatments to help improve many patients’ health and
quality of life.