TY - JOUR A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin T1 - Accessing radiation damage to biomolecules on the nanoscale by particle-scattering simulations N2 - Radiation damage to DNA plays a central role in radiation therapy to cure cancer. The physico-chemical and biological processes involved encompass huge time and spatial scales. To obtain a comprehensive understanding on the nano and the macro scale is a very challenging tasks for experimental techniques alone. Therefore particle-scattering simulations are often applied to complement measurements and aide their interpretation, to help in the planning of experiments, to predict their outcome and to test damage models. In the last years, powerful multipurpose particle-scattering framework based on the Monte-Carlo simulation (MCS) method, such as Geant4 and Geant4-DNA, were extended by user friendly interfaces such as TOPAS and TOPAS-nBio. This shifts their applicability from the realm of dedicated specialists to a broader range of scientists. In the present review we aim to give an overview over MCS based approaches to understand radiation interaction on a broad scale, ranging from cancerous tissue, cells and their organelles including the nucleus, mitochondria and membranes, over radiosensitizer such as metallic nanoparticles, and water with additional radical scavenger, down to isolated biomolecules in the form of DNA, RNA, proteins and DNA-protein complexes. Hereby the degradation of biomolecules by direct damage from inelastic scattering processes during the physical stage, and the indirect damage caused by radicals during the chemical stage as well as some parts of the early biological response is covered. Due to their high abundance the action of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and secondary low energy electrons (LEE) as well as prehydrated electrons are covered in additional detail. Applications in the prediction of DNA damage, DNA repair processes, cell survival and apoptosis, influence of radiosensitizer on the dose distribution within cells and their organelles, the study of linear energy transfer (LET), the relative biological effectiveness (RBE), ion beam cancer therapy, microbeam radiation therapy (MRT), the FLASH effect, and the radiation induced bystander effect are reviewed. KW - DNA KW - Protein KW - G5P KW - OH KW - Au KW - AuNP KW - Radiation KW - SSB KW - DSB KW - Beta decay KW - Brachytherapy KW - Cancer treatment KW - Clustered nanoparticles KW - DNA damage KW - Dosimetry KW - Energy deposit KW - Geant4 KW - Geant4-DNA KW - Gold Nanoparticles 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 - Proteins KW - Radiation damage KW - Radiation therapy KW - Radiationtherapy KW - Radioactive decay KW - Radiolysis KW - Radiotherapy KW - Simulation KW - TOPAS KW - TOPAS-nbio KW - Base damage KW - Base loss KW - DNA radiation damage KW - Direct damage KW - Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) KW - Dissociative electron transfer (DET) KW - Double-strand break (DSB) KW - ESCA KW - Hydrated DNA KW - Hydrated electron KW - Hydration shell KW - Hydroxyl radical KW - Indirect damage KW - Ionization KW - Ionisation KW - NAP-XPS KW - Near ambient pressure xray photo electron spectroscopy KW - Net-ionization reaction KW - Prehydrated electron KW - Presolvated electron KW - Quasi-direct damage KW - ROS KW - Radical KW - Reactive oxygen species KW - Single-strand break (SSB) KW - XPS KW - Xray KW - Xray photo electron spectrocopy KW - Cosolute KW - Ectoin KW - Ectoine KW - GVP KW - Gene five protein KW - Hydroxyectoine KW - Ionizing radiation damage KW - OH radical scavenger KW - Monte-Carlo simulations KW - Nanodosimetry KW - Osmolyte KW - Particle scattering simulations KW - Protein unfolding KW - Radical Scavenge KW - Radical scavenger KW - Single-stranded DNA-binding proteins KW - SAXS KW - Bio-SAXS KW - X-ray scattering KW - ssDNA KW - dsDNA KW - FLASH effect KW - Bystander effect KW - Ion beam therapy KW - Bragg peak KW - LET KW - MCNP KW - Photons KW - Electrons KW - Carbon ions KW - MRT KW - RNA KW - RBE KW - base loss KW - abasic side KW - DMSO KW - Cells PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-573240 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/2399-6528/accb3f SN - 2399-6528 VL - 7 IS - 4 SP - 042001 PB - Institute of Physics (IOP) Publishing CY - London AN - OPUS4-57324 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nakadi, Flavio V. T1 - Single-event analysis of discrete entities using microwave-induced nitrogen plasma–mass spectrometry N2 - ICP-MS has become a standard for (ultra)trace elemental analysis due to its excellent sensitivity and multi-element capabilities. However, its widespread use is hampered by spectral interferences—especially in the low mass range (<81 amu)—primarily arising from Ar-based polyatomic ions, such as ArO+ and Ar2+, which compromise the accurate quantification of key elements like Fe and Se.1 Over the years, improvements such as collision/reaction cells and sector-field configurations have helped mitigate these interferences, albeit often at the cost of instrument complexity and increased operational burden.The microwave-induced nitrogen plasma (MINP) source, sustained by microwaves at atmospheric pressure and using nitrogen as the plasma gas, offers a fundamentally different plasma environment. Nitrogen is not only more economical (40-60%) and readily available than Ar, but also avoids the generation of problematic Ar-based interferences. While MINP had been previously applied in optical emission and bulk mass spectrometry,2 its implementation in single-event detection had not yet been demonstrated. This study pioneers the application of MINP-MS in single-event mode for real-time, high-throughput characterization of NPs, cells, and MPs. The evaluation began with Fe2O3 NPs monitoring the 56Fe nuclide, with a limit of detection of 8.6 ag for Fe, equivalent to a particle size threshold of 19 nm—surpassing the detection capabilities of quadrupole-based ICP-MS systems. Size distribution results obtained by SP-MINP-MS for Fe2O3 NPs (20–70 nm) matched closely with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), confirming the method’s accuracy. For Se, despite its high ionization energy, metallic SeNPs (150 and 250 nm) were reliably quantified by monitoring 80Se. A calibration curve constructed using SeNP standards yielded excellent linearity (R2 = 0.9994). This approach was further extended to single-cell analysis, using Se-enriched yeast (SELM-1 CRM) as a model. A transport efficiency-independent calibration strategy was employed, relying on SeNPs to determine Se content per cell. The results showed strong agreement with data from conventional SC-ICP-MS, with average Se masses of ~65 fg per cell, validating the performance of SC-MINP-MS for biological systems. Additionally, the instrument's capability to handle large, low atomic number particles was demonstrated via the analysis of polystyrene (PS) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) MPs. These MPs (2.5–3.0 µm) were quantified by monitoring 12C+ signals and applying a calibration strategy using citric acid as a standard. The resulting size distributions closely matched nominal sizes, reinforcing the system’s robustness for micrometer-sized polymeric materials. Event durations ranging from 470 to over 900 µs were consistent with literature values for single-entity ICP-MS and correlated well with particle size. These findings establish single-event MINP-MS as a promising analytical platform for analyzing discrete entities. It provides significant advantages over conventional Ar-based ICP-MS, including reduced interferences, lower operational cost, and comparable or superior sensitivity for analytes such as Fe and Se. By avoiding the limitations of Ar-based plasmas and enabling accurate quantification across a wide range of particle types and sizes, MINP-MS in single-event mode opens new avenues for high-resolution, interference-free elemental analysis at the individual entity level. T2 - 17th Rio Symposium on Atomic Spectrometry (17th RSAS) CY - São Pedro City, Brazil DA - 09.11.2025 KW - MICAP-MS KW - Nitrogen plasma KW - Nanoparticles KW - Cells KW - Microplastic KW - Single particle KW - Single event KW - ICP-MS PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64954 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -