A forty-year journey from “classical” biophysics and radiobiology to hadrontherapy, space radiation and low dose rate underground radiobiology

Abstract

Purpose

As a biologist who, since the beginning of her involvement in science, has collaborated closely with physicists, I want to share my forty years of experience describing the events that introduced me to the world of charged particle radiation biology as well as that of low doses/dose rates, with related implications in medicine and radiation protection.

Conclusion

The main features of my experience can be summarized in the development of an interdisciplinary culture and in the interest in technological advances for the study of biological responses to radiation in different scenarios, relevant for public health. Mine was a journey that began by chance, but which led me to a world that proved to be of great interest to me. With the current advances in science, the new generations of scientists have new opportunities that I wish them to face with the same interest and enthusiasm that I felt for such an interdisciplinary field as that of radiation biology.

Keywords:

• Charged particle radiobiology
• hadrontherapy
• space radiation
• low doses/dose rates
• underground radiobiology

Subject classification codes::

• include these here if the journal requires them

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has been with me on this journey. I want to thank all the members, past and present, of the Biophysics of Ionizing Radiation and Radiobiology group, with whom I have shared enthusiasm and knowledge.

I am also particularly indebted with Mauro Belli, Giustina Simone and Fiorenza Ianzini, who helped me to remember.

I would like to thank all the colleagues, Italian and foreign, with whom I had the opportunity to share experiences and objectives for the many research opportunities that have turned into fruitful collaborations.

And most of all thanks to Enrico, a constant presence in my life that I miss so much.

Disclosure statement

The author reports no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Over the years, the research described in this work has been supported by EURATOM, INFN, Italian Space Agency and Enrico Fermi Research Center.

Notes on contributors

Maria Antonella Tabocchini

Maria Antonella Tabocchini, currently Senior Associate at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, recently retired from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy, where she was head of the Ionizing Radiation Biophysics and Radiobiology Group.