TY - JOUR A1 - Zutta Villate, J. M. A1 - Viviana Rojas, J. A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Anselmo Puerta, J. T1 - Synthesis of 198Au nanoparticles sub 10 nm due optimization on local dose by Monte Carlo simulations for cancer treatment N2 - To enhance the biological effects of radiation damage in cancerous cells, we present an alternative approach to the use of gold nanoparticles (AuNP), focusing on the synthesis and characterization of highly monodisperse, spherical radioactive gold nanoparticles 198AuNP. The size of the AuNP size was optimized with the help of Geant4/TOPAS particle scattering simulations, and energy deposition per nm3 per decay for varying radii (2–10 nm) was evaluated. This work is the foundation for ongoing experimental work to evaluate cell death induced by 198AuNP which aims for the use of radioactive gold nanoparticles in cancer treatment. KW - AuNP KW - Beta decay KW - Beta particle KW - Brachytherapy KW - Cancer treatment KW - Nanoparticles KW - Nanoparticle KW - DNA KW - DNA damage KW - Dosimetry KW - Energy deposit KW - Gamma ray KW - Geant4 KW - Geant4-DNA KW - Gold Nanoparticles KW - LEE KW - Low energy electrons KW - MCS KW - Microdosimetry KW - Monte-Carlo simulation KW - NP KW - Synthesis KW - TEM KW - OH radicals KW - Particle scattering KW - Radiation damage KW - Radiationtherapy KW - Radioactive decay KW - Radiolysis KW - Simulation KW - TOPAS KW - TOPAS-nbio PY - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08355-5 SN - 1588-2780 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Springer Nature AN - OPUS4-55132 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Zutta Villate, J. M. T1 - Combined cell and nanoparticle models for TOPAS to study radiation dose enhancement by Monte-Carlo based particle scattering Simulations N2 - Dose enhancement by gold nanoparticles (AuNP) increases the biological effectiveness of radiation damage in biomolecules and tissue. To apply them effectively during cancer therapy their influence on the locally delivered dose has to be determined.[1] Hereby, the AuNP locations strongly influence the energy deposit in the nucleus, mitochondria, membrane and the cytosol of the targeted cells. To estimate these effects, particle scattering simulations are applied. In general, different approaches for modeling the AuNP and their distribution within the cell are possible. In this work, two newly developed continuous and discrete-geometric models for simulations of AuNP in cells are presented. [2] These models are applicable to simulations of internal emitters and external radiation sources. Most of the current studies on AuNP focus on external beam therapy. In contrast, we apply the presented models in Monte-Carlo particle scattering simulations to characterize the energy deposit in cell organelles by radioactive 198AuNP. They emit beta and gamma rays and are therefore considered for applications with solid tumors. Differences in local dose enhancement between randomly distributed and nucleus targeted nanoparticles are compared. Hereby nucleus targeted nanoparticels showed a strong local dose enhancement in the radio sensitive nucleus. These results are the foundation for ongoing experimental work which aims to obtain a mechanistic understanding of cell death induced by radioactive 198Au. T2 - NALS 2022 CY - Santander, Spain DA - 27.04.2022 KW - AuNP KW - Beta decay KW - beta particle KW - Brachytherapy KW - Cancer treatment KW - Clustered nanoparticles KW - DNA KW - DNA damage KW - Dosimetry KW - Energy deposit KW - Geant4 KW - Geant4-DNA KW - Gold Nanoparticles KW - LEE KW - Livermore model KW - Low energy electrons KW - MCS KW - Microdosimetry KW - Monte-Carlo simulation KW - NP KW - OH radical KW - particle scattering KW - Penelope model KW - Radiation damage KW - Radiation therapy KW - Radiationtherapy KW - Radioactive decay KW - Radiolysis KW - Simulation KW - TOPAS KW - TOPAS-nbio PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-54775 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Dietrich, P. M. T1 - Near-Ambient-Pressure XPS to investigate radiation damage to DNA N2 - X-ray photoelectron-spectroscopy (XPS) allows simultaneous irradiation and damage monitoring. Although water radiolysis is essential for radiation damage, all previous XPS studies were performed in vacuum. Here we present near-ambient-pressure XPS experiments to directly measure DNA damage under water atmosphere. They permit in-situ monitoring of the effects of radicals on fully hydrated double-stranded DNA. Our results allow us to distinguish direct damage, by photons and secondary low-energy electrons (LEE), from damage by hydroxyl radicals or hydration induced modifications of damage pathways. The exposure of dry DNA to x-rays leads to strand-breaks at the sugar-phosphate backbone, while deoxyribose and nucleobases are less affected. In contrast, a strong increase of DNA damage is observed in water, where OH-radicals are produced. In consequence, base damage and base release become predominant, even though the number of strand-breaks increases further. T2 - Physical and Chemical Analysis of Polymers seminar CY - Online meeting DA - 12.10.2021 KW - Base damage KW - Base loss KW - Cancer therapy KW - DNA KW - DNA radiation damage KW - Direct damage KW - Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) KW - Dissociative electron transfer (DET) KW - Dosimetry KW - Double-strand break KW - DSB KW - Dry DNA KW - Geant4 KW - Geant4-DNA KW - Hydrated DNA KW - Hydrated electron KW - Hydration shell KW - Hydroxyl radical KW - Indirect damage KW - Ionization KW - LEE KW - Low energy electrons KW - Microdosimetry KW - NAP-XPS KW - Near ambient pressure xray photo electron spectroscopy KW - Net-ionization reaction KW - OH radical KW - PES KW - Prehydrated electron KW - Quasi-direct damage KW - ROS KW - Radiation damage KW - Radiation therapy KW - Radical KW - Reactive oxygen species KW - Single-strand break KW - SSB KW - TOPAS KW - TOPAS-nbio KW - XPS KW - Xray KW - Xray photo electron spectrocopy PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53611 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin T1 - BioSAXS models for TOPAS/Geant4 N2 - Models for TOPAS/Geant4 to estimate the microscopic dose received by biomolecules during bioSAXS experiments. The C++ classes in this repository extend the functionality of the TOPAS (http://www.topasmc.org/) Monte-Carlo program, which is itself a wrapper of the Geant4 MCS Toolkit (http://geant4.org). KW - TOPAS KW - TOPAS-nBio KW - Geant4 KW - Geant4-DNA KW - MCS KW - Microdosimetry KW - Protein KW - Proteins KW - Particle scattering KW - G5P KW - GV5 KW - SAXS KW - Monte-Carlo simulation KW - Dosimetry KW - Micorscopic dose-damage relation PY - 2022 UR - https://github.com/MarcBHahn/TOPAS-bioSAXS-dosimetry U6 - https://doi.org/10.26272/opus4-55751 PB - Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-55751 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Smales, Glen Jacob A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Hallier, Dorothea C. A1 - Seitz, H. T1 - X-ray scattering datasets and simulations associated with the publication "Bio-SAXS of single-stranded DNA-binding proteins: Radiation protection by the compatible solute ectoine" N2 - This dataset contains the processed and analysed small-angle X-ray scattering data associated with all samples from the publications "Bio-SAXS of Single-Stranded DNA-Binding Proteins: Radiation Protection by the Compatible Solute Ectoine" (https://doi.org/10.1039/D2CP05053F). Files associated with McSAS3 analyses are included, alongside the relevant SAXS data, with datasets labelled in accordance to the protein (G5P), its concentration (1, 2 or 4 mg/mL), and if Ectoine is present (Ect) or absent (Pure). PEPSIsaxs simulations of the GVP monomer (PDB structure: 1GV5 ) and dimer are also included. TOPAS-bioSAXS-dosimetry extension for TOPAS-nBio based particle scattering simulations can be obtained from https://github.com/MarcBHahn/TOPAS-bioSAXS-dosimetry which is further described in https://doi.org/10.26272/opus4-55751. This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under grant number 442240902 (HA 8528/2-1 and SE 2999/2-1). We acknowledge Diamond Light Source for time on Beamline B21 under Proposal SM29806. This work has been supported by iNEXT-Discovery, grant number 871037, funded by the Horizon 2020 program of the European Commission. KW - SAXS KW - Radiation protection KW - Microdosimetry KW - G5P KW - Ectoine KW - DNA-Binding protein PY - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7515394 PB - Zenodo CY - Geneva AN - OPUS4-56811 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Dietrich, P. M. A1 - Radnik, Jörg T1 - The change of DNA radiation damage upon hydration: In-situ observations by near-ambient-pressure XPS N2 - Ionizing radiation damage to DNA plays a fundamental role in cancer therapy. X-ray photoelectron-spectroscopy (XPS) allows simultaneous irradiation and damage monitoring. Although water radiolysis is essential for radiation damage, all previous XPS studies were performed in vacuum. Here we present near-ambient-pressure XPS experiments to directly measure DNA damage under water atmosphere. They permit in-situ monitoring of the effects of radicals on fully hydrated double-stranded DNA. The results allow us to distinguish direct damage, by photons and secondary low-energy electrons (LEE), from damage by hydroxyl radicals or hydration induced modifications of damage pathways. The exposure of dry DNA to x-rays leads to strand-breaks at the sugar-phosphate backbone, while deoxyribose and nucleobases are less affected. In contrast, a strong increase of DNA damage is observed in water, where OH-radicals are produced. In consequence, base damage and base release become predominant, even though the number of strand-breaks increases further. T2 - #RSCposter 2023 CY - Online meeting DA - 28.02.2023 KW - Cancer treatment KW - DNA KW - Dosimetry KW - Energy deposit KW - Geant4 KW - Geant4-DNA KW - TOPAS KW - TOPAS-nbio KW - particle scattering KW - Simulation KW - Radiolysis KW - Radiation therapy KW - Radiotherapy KW - LEE KW - Low energy electrons KW - MCS KW - Base damage KW - Base loss KW - DNA radiation damage KW - Direct damage KW - Dissociative electron transfer (DET) KW - Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) KW - Double-strand break (DSB) KW - Hydrated DNA KW - Hydrated electron KW - Ionization KW - Hydration shell KW - Hydroxyl radical KW - Indirect damage KW - Microdosimetry KW - NAP-XPS KW - Near ambient pressure xray photo electron spectroscopy KW - Net-ionization reaction KW - OH radical KW - PES KW - Prehydrated electron KW - Quasi-direct damage KW - Radiation damage KW - Radical KW - Reactive oxygen species KW - ROS KW - Single-strand break (SSB) KW - XPS KW - Xray KW - Xray photo electron spectrocopy KW - presolvated electron PY - 2023 UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s42004-021-00487-1 AN - OPUS4-57063 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Hallier, Dorothea C. A1 - Seitz, H. A1 - Smales, Glen Jacob T1 - Bio-SAXS of single-stranded DNA-binding proteins: Radiation protection by the compatible solute ectoine N2 - Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) can be used for structural determination of biological macromolecules and polymers in their native states (e.g. liquid phase). This means that the structural changes of (bio-)polymers, such as proteins and DNA, can be monitored in situ to understand their sensitivity to changes in chemical environments. In an attempt to improve the reliability of such experiments, the reduction of radiation damage occurring from exposure to X-rays is required. One such method, is to use scavenger molecules to protect macromolecules against radicals produced during radiation exposure, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study we investigate the feasibility of applying the compatible solute, osmolyte and radiation protector Ectoine (THP(B)), as a scavenger molecule during SAXS measurements of the single-stranded DNA-binding protein Gene-V Protein (G5P/GVP). In this case, we monitor the radiation induced changes of G5P during bio-SAXS measurments and the resulting microscopic energy-damage relation was determined from microdosimetric calculations by Monte-Carlo based particle scattering simulations with TOPAS/Geant4 and a custom target-model. This resulted in a median-lethal energy deposit of pure G5P at 4 mg mL−1 of E1/2 = 7 ± 5 eV, whereas a threefold increase of energy-deposit was needed under the presence of Ectoine to reach the same level of damage. This indicates that Ectoine increases the possible exposure time before radiation-damage to G5P is observed. Furthermore, the dominant type of damage shifted from aggregation in pure solutions towards a fragmentation for solutions containing Ectoine as a cosolute. These results are interpreted in terms of indirect radiation damage by reactive secondary species, as well as post-irradiation effects, related to preferential-exclusion of the cosolute from the protein surface. Hence, Ectoine is shown to provide a non-disturbing way to improve structure-determination of proteins via bio-SAXS in future studies. T2 - #RSCposter 2023 CY - Online meeting DA - 28.02.2023 KW - Bio-SAXS KW - BioSAXS KW - Cosolute KW - DNA KW - Dosimetry KW - Ectoin KW - Ectoine KW - G5P KW - GVP KW - Geant4 KW - Geant4-DNA KW - Ionizing radiation damage KW - LEE KW - McSAS3 KW - Microdosimetry KW - Monte-Carlo simulations KW - OH Radical KW - OH radical scavenger KW - Particle scattering simulations KW - Protein KW - Protein unfolding KW - Radiation damage KW - Radical Scavenger KW - SAXS KW - Single-stranded DNA-binding proteins KW - Small-angle xray scattering KW - Topas KW - Topas-MC KW - Topas-nBio KW - X-ray scattering KW - ssDNA KW - Osmolyte KW - Hydroxyectoine KW - Compatible solute KW - ROS KW - radical scavenger PY - 2023 UR - https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2023/cp/d2cp05053f AN - OPUS4-57064 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Meyer, Susan A1 - Solomun, Tihomir A1 - Kunte, Hans-Jörg A1 - Sturm, Heinz T1 - Electron irradiation of biomolecules under physiological conditions: Experimental realization and microdosimetric calculations N2 - In the last years, secondary low-energy electrons (LEE) emerged as important, if not predominant, reductive pathway in ionizing damage of biomolecules. These electrons are created in copious amount as result of inelastic scattering of high energy radiation at water. Until now, all experiments the quantification of the effects of LEEs on the biomolecular damage was either performed in vacuum with LEE sources or with DNA on surfaces in humid atmosphere. We present a new experimental setup to irradiate biomolecules with electrons under physiological conditions. In combination with monte carlo simulations this setup makes it possible to determine microdosimetric quantities for biomolecules in liquid environment under electron irradiation. This opens up new possibilities in radiation research to access the LEE damage under well defined physiological condition, for more complex systems, such as DNA-Protein complexes and even living cells. T2 - 14th International Congress of the International Radiation Protection Association CY - Cape Town, South Africa DA - 09.05.2016 KW - DNA KW - Dosimetry KW - Microdosimetry KW - Geant4 KW - Low energy electrons KW - Radicals KW - Radiation damage KW - Polymers PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-36399 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin T1 - Quantifizierung der Schädigung von DNA in wässriger Lösung unter direkter Elektronenbestrahlung N2 - To cure cancer radiation therapy is used to kill tumor cells. It is based on radiation induced damage to biomolecules. Especially DNA damage is of key interest due to its central role in apoptosis and mutation. Because of the high amount of water in biological tissue, most of the damage is caused by the secondary particles produced by the inelastic scattering of ionizing radiation and water. A detailed understanding of the underlying molecular processes under physiological conditions is the prerequisite to develop more efficient therapies. Goal of this work is to quantify the DNA damage caused by ionizing radiation in dependence of the inelastic scattering events and the energy deposit within the microscopic target volume of biological relevance. The irradiations have to be performed in liquid, under consideration of the chemical environment. Therefore, a new combination of experiment and Monte-Carlo simulations was developed and tested. To make it possible to irradiate liquids with electrons within scanning electron microscopes a new sample holder was constructed incorporating an electron transparent nanomembrane. It makes it possible to irradiate DNA, proteins or cells at different pH, salinity and in the presence of cosolutes. %The most important results of this work are as follows: The median lethal dose for a model system of plasmid DNA and water was determined by the combination of experimental data, particle scattering simulations (Geant4-DNA) and diffusion calculations as D0.5=(1.7+-0.3) Gy. From the convolution of plasmid positions and the spatially resolved energy deposit, as determined by electron scattering simulations, the histogram of the energy deposit within the target volume of the plasmids and the microscopic median lethal energy deposit was calculated as E0.5=6+-4eV. It could be deduced that on average less than two ionization events are sufficient to cause a single-strand-break. The relation of single-strand-breaks (SSB) to double-strand-breaks (DSB), which is of importance for microdosimetric modeling, was determined as SSB:DSB = 12:1. The presented method for the determination of microscopic dose-damage relations was further extended to be applicable for general irradiation experiments. It becomes independent of the type of primary radiation used, the experimental geometry, and the diffusional properties of the molecules under investigation. This way different experimental systems with varying, inhomogeneous energy deposit characteristics become comparable with each other, which is not possible when only macroscopic averaged values are taken into account. In addition, the radiation protection properties of the compatible solute ectoine, as well as its influence on the water properties and biomolecules were investigated. %In addition, the influence of the compatible solute ectoine on water, biomolecules and its radiation protection properties were investigated. Raman spectroscopy revealed a concentration dependent increase of the collective water modes in the OH-stretching region, which was found to be independent of the sodium chloride concentration. Molecular dynamic simulations showed that the zwitterionic properties of ectoine lead to its half-chair conformation. The hydrogen bonds in the first hydration shell are more stable and have an increased lifetime compared to the bulk water. Irradiation experiments with DNA in the presence of 1M ectoine revealed an increase of the survival rate by a factor of 1.41 as compared to the absence of ectoine. The protective properties of ectoine result from the increase of the inelastic scattering probabilities of low energy electrons at the acoustic vibrational modes of water and its properties as OH-radical scavenger. This was shown by Raman spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements (EPR). T2 - Vortrag CY - Freie Universität Berlin, Germany DA - 14.02.2018 KW - DNA KW - Radiation damage KW - Ionizing radiation KW - DNA strand break KW - Dosimetry KW - Microdosimetry KW - Ectoine KW - Ectoine radiation protection KW - Salt KW - Water PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-44280 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - THES A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin T1 - Quantifizierung der Schädigung von DNA in wässriger Lösung unter direkter Elektronenbestrahlung N2 - Bei der Behandlung von Krebs wird Strahlentherapie zur Zerstörung von Tumorzellen eingesetzt. Der zugrunde liegende Wirkmechanismus ist die durch ionisierende Strahlung verursachte Schädigung an Biomolekülen. Dabei kommt den Schädigungsprozessen an DNA aufgrund ihrer zentralen Rolle in Mutation und Zelltod eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Durch den hohen Wasseranteil in menschlichen Zellen findet ein Großteil der inelastischen Streuprozesse an Wassermolekülen statt und führt zur deren Radiolyse. Die so entstehenden Radiolyseprodukte sind für einen Großteil des Schadens an DNA verantwortlich. Ein detailliertes Verständnis der zugrunde liegenden molekularen Interaktion ist die Voraussetzung um effizientere Therapien zu entwickeln. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die Schädigung von DNA durch ionisierende Strahlung in Abhängigkeit der inelastischen Streuevents und des Energieeintrags innerhalb des biologisch relevanten mikroskopischen Treffervolumens zu quantifizieren. Die Bestrahlungen müssen dazu in Flüssigkeit, unter Berücksichtigung der chemischen Umgebung durchgeführt werden, welche die indirekten Schäden vermittelt. Deshalb wurde eine neuartige Kombination aus Experiment und Monte- Carlo-Simulationen entworfen und angewandt. Um Elektronenbestrahlung flüssiger Lösungen innerhalb eines Rasterelektronenmikroskops zu ermöglichen, wurde ein Probenhalter mit einer für Elektronen durchlässigen Nanomembran entwickelt. So können Bestrahlungen an DNA, Proteinen, und Zellen bei verschiedenen pH-Werten, Salzkonzentrationen oder in Anwesenheit von Kosoluten durchgeführt werden. Für ein Modellsystem aus Plasmid-DNA in Wasser wurde damit die mittlere letale Dosis aus der Kombination der experimentellen Daten, Partikelstreusimulationen (Geant4-DNA) und Diffusionsberechnungen zu D1/2 = 1.7 ± 0.3 Gy bestimmt. Aus der Konvolution der Plasmidpositionen mit dem durch Elektronenstreusimulationen bestimmten ortsaufgelösten Energieeintrag wurde dessen Häufigkeitsverteilung im Targetvolumen der Plasmide sowie der mittlere mikroskopische letale Energieeintrag berechnet als E1/2 = 6 ± 4 eV . Es wurde gefolgert, dass weniger als zwei Ionisationsprozesse im sensitiven Targetvolumen der DNA im Mittel zu einem Einzelstrangbruch führen. Das für mikrodosimetrische Modellierungen wichtige Verhältnis von Einzelstrangbrüchen (SSB) zu Doppelstrangbrüchen (DSB) wurde als SSB : DSB = 12 : 1 bestimmt. Die vorgestellte Methode zur Bestimmung mikroskopischer Schaden-Dosis Relationen wurde auf weitere Klassen von Bestrahlungsexperimenten verallgemeinert. Dadurch ist die Methode unabhängig von der verwandten Primärstrahlung, der Probengeometrie und den Diffusionseigenschaften der untersuchten Moleküle anwendbar. So wird eine Vergleichbarkeit experimenteller Systeme mit inhomogenen Energieverteilungen erreicht, die bei ausschließlicher Betrachtung makroskopischer, gemittelter Größen nicht gegeben ist. Des weiteren wurden die Strahlenschutzfunktionen des kompatiblen Soluts Ectoine und sein Einfluss auf Wasser und Biomoleküle untersucht. Mittels Ramanspektroskopie wurde ein kon-zentrationsabhängiger Anstieg des Anteils der Kollektivmoden des Wassers der OH-Streckschwingungen und dessen Unabhängigkeit von der Natriumchloridkonzentration beobachtet. Molekulardynamik-Simulationen zeigten, dass die zwitterionischen Eigenschaften zur Bildung einer half-chair Konformation Ectoines führen. Die Wasserstoffbrückenbindungen in der ersten Hydrationshülle sind signifikant stabiler und besitzen höhere Lebensdauern als das Bulk-Wasser. Bestrahlung von DNA in Anwesenheit von 1 M Ectoine führt zu einer Erhöhung der Überlebensrate um den Faktor 1,41. Die Schutzfunktion wurde auf die Erhöhung des Streuquerschnitts niederenergetischer Elektronen an den akustischen Vibrationsmoden des Wasser durch Ectoine und seine Wirkung als OH-Radikalfänger zurückgeführt. Dies wurde mittels Ramanspektroskopie und Elektronenspinresonanzmessungen (ESR) nachgewiesen. N2 - To cure cancer radiation therapy is used to kill tumor cells. It is based on radiation induced damage to biomolecules. Especially DNA damage is of key interest due to its central role in apoptosis and mutation. Because of the high amount of water in biological tissue, most of the damage is caused by the secondary particles produced by the inelastic scattering of ionizing radiation and water. A detailed understanding of the underlying molecular processes under physiological conditions is the prerequisite to develop more efficient therapies. Goal of this work is to quantify the DNA damage caused by ionizing radiation in dependence of the inelastic scattering events and the energy deposit within the microscopic target volume of biological relevance. The irradiations have to be performed in liquid, under consideration of the chemical environment. Therefore, a new combination of experiment and Monte-Carlo simulations was developed and tested. To make it possible to irradiate liquids with electrons within scanning electron microscopes a new sample holder was constructed incorporating an electron transparent nanomembrane. It makes it possible to irradiate DNA, proteins or cells at different pH, salinity and in the presence of cosolutes. The median lethal dose for a model system of plasmid DNA and water was determined by the combination of experimental data, particle scattering simulations (Geant4-DNA) and Diffusion calculations as D1/2 = 1.7 ± 0.3 Gy. From the convolution of plasmid positions and the spatially resolved energy deposit, as determined by electron scattering simulations, the histogram of the energy deposit within the target volume of the plasmids and the microscopic median lethal energy deposit was calculated as E1/2 = 6 ± 4 eV . It could be deduced that on average less than two ionization events are sufficient to cause a single-strand-break. The relation of single- strand-breaks (SSB) to double-strand-breaks (DSB), which is of importance for microdosimetric modeling, was determined as SSB : DSB = 12 : 1. The presented method for the determination of microscopic dose-damage relations was further extended to be applicable for general irradiation experiments. It becomes independent of the type of primary radiation used, the experimental geometry, and the diffusional properties of the molecules under investigation. This way different experimental systems with varying, inhomogeneous energy deposit characteristics become comparable with each other, which is not possible when only macroscopic averaged values are taken into account. In addition, the radiation protection properties of the compatible solute ectoine, as well as ist influence on the water properties and biomolecules were investigated. Raman spectroscopy revealed a concentration dependent increase of the collective water modes in the OH-stretching region, which was found to be independent of the sodium chloride concentration. Molecular dynamic simulations showed that the zwitterionic properties of ectoine lead to its half-chair conformation. The hydrogen bonds in the first hydration shell are more stable and have an increased lifetime compared to the bulk water. Irradiation experiments with DNA in the presence of 1 M ectoine revealed an increase of the survival rate by a factor of 1.41 as compared to the absence of ectoine. The protective properties of ectoine result from the increase of the inelastic scattering probabilities of low energy electrons at the acoustic vibrational modes of water and its properties as OH-radical scavenger. This was shown by Raman spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements (EPR). KW - DNA KW - Radiation KW - Radiation damage KW - Dosimetry KW - Microdosimetry KW - DNA damage KW - DNA radiation damage KW - Low energy electrons KW - Electron irradiation KW - Hydroxyl radicals KW - Ectoine KW - Ectoine protein interaction KW - Ectoine DNA interaction KW - Ectoine radiation protection KW - Ectoine salt KW - Cancer therapy KW - Radiation therapy KW - Ectoin PY - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:188-fudissthesis000000106497-4 UR - http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/receive/FUDISS_thesis_000000106497 SP - 1 EP - 108 CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-44510 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -