PNNL

Abstract

Combined with sensitive molecular techniques, the microbeam has proven extremely useful in studying radiation biology. This technology allows individual cells, or selected groups of cells, to be irradiated at specific doses and dose rates. Such capabilities lend themselves well to studies of low dose responses, delayed and non-targeted bystander effects of radiation. High-linear energy transfer (LET) microbeams mimic heavy energetic particles such as the a-particles associated with radon exposure and have been used in numerous biological studies. Several low-LET microbeams have also been developed (reviewed in. One such low-LET microbeam, developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and currently located at the University of Maryland Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory, uses a variable energy electron source to mimic low-LET radiation and allows observation of how x-rays and ?-rays affect mammalian cells.