Understanding Radiation Damage to Cells Using Microbeams

Cellular micro-irradiation techniques provide unique experimental opportunities for understanding how ionizing radiation interacts with living cells and tissues. Using microbeams, it is possible to deliver precise doses of radiation to selected individual cells, or sub-cellular targets in vitro. This technique continues to be applied to the investigation of a number of phenomena currently of great interest to the radiobiological community. In particular, it is the study of so-called "non-targeted" effects (where cells are seen to respond indirectly to ionizing radiation) that are benefiting most from the use of microbeam approaches.