Highlighted research

Studying fire ant behavior

As any picnicker can tell you, fire ants are real pests. We helped an entomologist study how the ants acquire and distribute food or poison to other ants.

We worked with Texas A&M entomologist and Ph.D. student Ron Weeks to determine how one particular form of the bothersome arthropods acquire and distribute resources — food or poison — to other ants.

At Texas A&M's Neutron Activation Analysis Laboratory, Weeks determines how much of each element is present in the ants by detecting the presence and determining the concentration of various elements in different materials.

With NAA, samples are irradiated, or bombarded with high-energy neutrons — uncharged particles from the nucleus of an atom — from our nuclear reactor. The elements in the sample interact with the neutrons, becoming radioactive and unstable. When the elements decay, they emit characteristic gamma rays that can then be measured and identified.

Weeks was able to find out how much food was moved, where it was moved, and how fast it was moved. And by determining how the food was shared, Weeks could better understand how to better manage the pests.

Preserving artifacts

How do you keep waterlogged artifacts from shipwrecks and other rare materials in shape for study? We helped one nautical archaeologist develop a technique for just this purpose.

Working with Texas A&M nautical archaeologist Wayne Smith to preserve The Belle, the ship of the early American explorer LaSalle, we designed a series of experiments to develop a process for using a variety of polymer siloxanes to stabilize waterlogged archaeological materials, such as items from a shipwreck. We submerged an artifact in a liquid polymer and then exposed it to radiation to be hardened. The researchers then sliced up the artifact for study. This polymerization process could be applied to preserving rare books.

Treatment for Aneurysms and AVMs

We developed a novel treatment for damaged blood vessels.

Arterio-venous malformations (AVM), a somewhat common birth defect present in about 1 percent of the population, is an arterial short-circuit through the brain. About 3 percent of those with AVM have severe health problems, but surgery to correct the damaged vessel is not always an option. We worked with doctors to develop a new treatment for AVM.

We irradiated a metal coil and then implanted the coil into the damaged vessel. After implantation, the coil and vessel were irradiated with gamma radiation. We had a 100-percent success rate in our animal studies, compared with only 70 percent in people with current methods. We are starting the approval process for use in humans and are extending this idea to treat certain inoperable cancers and aneurysms.

Microbeam chromosome painting

As one of only three microbeam facilities, in the world, we can do things no one else can.

We have one of three microbeam facilities in the world. We can collimate a proton or alpha beam down to 0.5 mm and irradiate living mammalian cells one particle at a time. With chromosome painting we can literally hit a particular chromosome with a single high-LET particle and watch what happens.

New services offered

Always looking for ways to better serve our customers, we’ve added to the lists of products and services offered.

Radioactive sodium solutions added to product list: To better serve our commercial customers, we are now offering to conduct the chemistry on our radioactive tracers that formerly our customers had to perform in the field. See our recent projects and research, products and services.