And a reminder, if you attend in person, there will be a social afterwards at Mike's Place, the on-campus pub on the second floor of the University Centre.
Speakers:
Student presenter: Connor McNairn (Carleton University)
Low-dose cellular dosimetry using Raman spectroscopy
Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive optical technique that can be used to assess the impact of low doses of ionizing radiation (<0.1 Gy) within cells. Raman spectroscopy measures the inelastic scattering of light interacting with vibrations of chemical bonds, creating a “chemical fingerprint” that can detect changes on the singular cell level. However, due to the stochastic nature of energy deposition at these low doses, it is important to be able to accurately assess the dose delivered to individual cells. A solution to this problem is to study cells grown on the surface of a dosimeter, allowing for the co-registration of the Raman response of single cells exposed to ionizing radiation based on the absorbed dose read-out from the dosimeter. Radiochromic films (RCFs) are commonly used relative dosimeters that are Raman sensitive and provide micron scale resolution and sensitivity to doses as low as 0.01 Gy in their Raman response. In this presentation, the methodology and challenges of a Raman spectroscopy based read-out system of cells grown on the surface of RCFs will be explored. This technique has potential to integrate experimental microdosimetry with measurement of cellular response to ionizing radiation, assisting the study of the biological effects of low doses of radiation.
Guest speaker: John Schreiner, PhD, FCCPM, FCOMP, FAAPM
X-ray Photography from Würzburg to Canada: Two Months of Physics Invention and Social Media in 1896
Next November will be the 130th anniversary of the discovery of x-rays by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1895. In the next months, the news of his discovery hit world attention. And less than two months after he produced what is considered the first anatomical x‑ray photograph (of his wife’s hand) that experiment was reproduced in Canada: on February 7th at McGill, and on the 17th in Kingston by a physicist from RMC.
In this talk I will present how the news of the discovery travelled via that era’s version of social media, and how the stage was set for Canada and Kingston’s x‑ray legacy.