2.4: Health and Medical Applications

Master the convergence of the physical and the life sciences to deliver revolutionary technologies for health and medical applications.

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The Office of Science has been at the center of medical technology innovations, with a focus on energy’s impact on human health and the powerful imaging and radioisotope tools that have been the foundation of nuclear medicine. The future of technology development appears even brighter with the availability of micro- and nano-structured materials and the emerging capability to actually “see” genes and networks of genes in action in living tissues. This makes possible the ability to track the progression of disease as it unfolds at the genetic level. Also, new radiotracers and imaging concepts will explore both normal and abnormal health, from the development of cancer to brain function. On a larger physical scale, medical imaging may be possible for patients in motion, such as infants. Our strategy includes the following emphases: • Restore sight to the blind using the microelectronics, material science technologies, and specialized expertise of the national laboratories to design and fabricate an implantable artificial retina. • Enable medical imaging of moving patients with modified PET and MRI technology, capitalizing on advances in mathematics, computation, and detectors from high-energy physics to compensate for motion. • Develop highly selective, ultrasensitive biosensors based on the national laboratories’ expertise in miniaturized optical systems and single-molecule detection, for medical, environmental, and national security applications. • Image genes as they are turned on and off in any organ of the body by forming fluorescent or radioisotopic images, giving us new capabilities for the diagnosis of disease. • Develop new radiotracers and molecular tags to image the chemistry of life and disease, built around our capabilities in structural genomics, proteomics, radiochemistry, and more generally, the physical sciences. • Determine the health risks of exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation to adequately and appropriately protect DOE nuclear workers and the general public while making effective use of our national resources.

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