Irradiation Shared Resource
Management:
P. Jack Hoopes DVM, PhD
Associate Professor of Surgery, Radiation Oncology and Bioengineering. Dr Hoopes is Chairman of the Dartmouth College Radiation Safety Committee and Director of the Irradiation Shared Resource. He provides daily oversight and responsibility for the facility, including resource personnel, user projects, accuracy and safety.
David J. Gladstone ScD
Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Director of Radiation Physics at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Dr Gladstone provides radiation physics, dosimetry, treatment planning and general therapeutic and experimental radiation expertise to all DC/DHMC radiation users.
Contact Information
Location: Second floor, Borwell Research Building (adjacent to radiation oncology)
E-Mail: rendy@dartmouth.edu or p.jack.hoopes@dartmouth.edu
Staff
Christina Skourou PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow in Radiation Physics at DHMC. Assists and performs all aspects of clinical and developmental radiation physics, under the guidance of Dr Gladstone. Dr Skourou's bioengineering, radiation biology, and radiation physics expertise is useful to NCCC investigators who are using radiation in multidisciplinary research projects.
Rendall R. Strawbridge BS
Irradiation Shared Resource Manager, is responsible for scheduling and performing the large majority of the daily irradiations.
Augustinius Ong, MPH, MS
Radiation Safety Officer of Dartmouth College, works with Mr. Strawbridge to provide daily irradiation service (primary back-up) and safety oversight.
Scientific and usage oversight is provided by the NCCC's Experimental and Translational Models Group (ETMG) and the Radiation Safety Committee on behalf of the licensee, Dartmouth College, and the licensing agency, the State of New Hampshire, Bureau of Radiologic Health.
Mission
The primary mission of the Irradiation Shared Resource (ISR) continues to be the delivery of ionizing irradiation to cells, rodents and large animals, including spontaneous animal tumors. The ISR provides experimental irradiation service to NCCC and other Dartmouth investigators. Research imaging modalities previously developed and provided in this resource are now included in the new Developmental Shared Resource, Animal Imaging, which is described elsewhere in this proposal. The availability of a variety of radiation sources continues to allow the ISR to offer a broad and versatile irradiation capability with a wide range of energies and dose rates. The resource currently operates multiple experimental and clinical irradiators, including a Cs -gamma source (12,000 Curie, Cs-137), an orthovoltage x-ray source (Pantak multiple energy, 300 KV x-irradiator), a 6-18 MeV linear accelerator (which produces both photons and electrons) and an Ir-192 high-dose rate after-loader.
Facilities
The Resource currently operates a research dedicated experimental Cs137 irradiator and has dedicated research access to several clinical irradiators including; orthovoltage radiation, 6-18 MeV electron /gamma radiation, steriotactic RT and high dose rate brachytherapy. The 6-18 MeV linear accelerators, Iridium (HDR) after-loader and treatment planning are housed on Level 2 of the Rubin and Borwell Research Buildings at DHMC.
Equipment
- 2,000 Curie JL Shepard Cesium (gamma) Irradiator
- Pantak DXT 300 (multiple energy, 300 KV / orthovoltage x-irradiator)
- 6-18 MeV Linear Accelerators (photons and electrons)
- Ir-192 High Dose Rate After-Loader (HDR)
- ADAC Pinnacle Radiation Treatment Planning System
- Dedicated Irradiator for Rodent Barrier (installation pending space renovation)
- Proton Irradiation Facility (on-line spring 2009)
Services Provided:
- Cs-137 irradiator
- cultured mammalian cells
- establishment of feeder layers
- patient tumor cells (clinical trials for tumor vaccine)
- induction of DNA strand breaks
- cell survival studies
- whole animal immunosuppression studies
- biomaterial sterilization
- Clinical Irradiations (including future Proton irradiator):
- normal tissue radiation tolerance and pathophysiology studies
- spontaneous animal tumor studies
- rodent tumor therapy studies
- radiation physics /development studies (including phantoms studies)
Charges
- Charges for cell /animal irradiation (Cs irradiator): $18/15 min exposure.
- Other charges are determined according to individual need and instrument availability.
