
INVITED LECTURES
Click on the presenter’s name to see the biography, and on the lecture's title to see the lecture's abstract.
Anatoly Rozenfeld

Anatoly Rosenfeld obtained MSc (with distinction) from Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, Russia, and PhD from Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research, Ukraine. He is Distinguished Professor and Director of Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at University of Wollongong, to which he was a founder in 2000.
Anatoly’s major scientific interest is in a field of semiconductor radiation detectors for medical dosimetry in radiation therapy, including particle therapy and space radiation. He has published more than 400 peer refereed papers (>10000 citations , h-index 52, GS). He holds 18 granted patents on radiation detectors and is actively involved with his team in their commercialization, including licencing of his inventions – Silicon On Insulator (SOI) detectors for microdosimetery (SINTEF, Norway) and MOSkin dosimetry system (Electrogenics Laboratories Ltd, Australia) are examples of this work.
Anatoly is an immediate past Chair of International Solid State Dosimetry Organization, Member of ICRU Committee for Microdosimetry Report preparation, Member of Space Medicine and Life Sciences Advisory Group of Australian Space Agency and Member of National Particle Treatment and Research Centre (NPTRC) Steering Committee in Australia. For his pioneering work in improving radiation cancer treatment, Anatoly was awarded the 2022 Premier NSW Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year award.
Advanced semiconductor microdosimetry for particle therapy and space
Based on many years of experience in development of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) microdosimeter, the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, has successfully developed a microdosimetric probe which is based on a SOI microdosimeter with 3D micron sized sensitive volumes (SVs) array mimicking dimensions of cells, known as the “MicroPlus-Mushroom” microdosimeters, to address the shortcomings of the large tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC).
A method for converting silicon microdosimetric spectra to tissue for a therapeutic proton and heavier ion beams, based on Monte Carlo simulations, was developed. The MicroPlus microdosimeters provide extremely high spatial resolution and were used to evaluate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of 4He, 12C, 14N, 16O, 20Ne, 56Fe ions at Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC), Japan as well as to measure the microdosimetric distributions of a proton pencil-beam scanning (PBS) and passive scattering system at different proton therapy centres. Good agreement between predicted cell survival response using MKM and measured from in vitro experiments in the same radiation field allow replacing time consuming cell experiments with MicroPlus microdosimeter measurements. Based on these studies new domain of quality assurance in particle therapy as dose averaged linear energy transfer (LETD) was clinically introduced along with absorbed dose measurements.
Another application of SOI microdosimeter is for evaluation of radiation shielding and radiation protection of astronauts in radiation environment typical for SPE and GCR. We demonstrated that SOI microdosimeters are suitable for in situ evaluation of radiation shielding efficiency of multi-layered space craft and astronaut shelter walls in radiation fields on accelerators mimicking SPE and GCR. SOI microdosimeters supplement and are bench marking Monte Carlo simulations, which are time consuming and not always accurate due to lack of knowledge of cross sections.
Giancarlo Pascali

Dr. Giancarlo Pascali graduated from University of Pisa (Italy) in 2001 with a thesis on 18F, and has since then performed research activities in the PET radiochemistry field. After obtaining his PhD under the supervision of P.A. Salvadori (IFC-CNR, Italy) and W. Eckelman (NIH, USA), he has worked both in research and commercial realities, in different European countries, still focusing on the development of novel PET radiopharmaceuticals. He joined ANSTO (Sydney, Australia) as Radiochemistry Team Leader in 2013 and currently works there. He is also active member and Board component of several professional associations in the field of Chemistry, Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Imaging.
Giancarlo expertise spans from radiolabelling methods, radiopharmaceutical design and optimization, imaging techniques, production regulations (GMP) and automation approaches. In this last field, he represents one of the early users of microfluidic systems to radiochemical processes, and still investigates in this direction.
His current interests are directed towards improving the access of better radioactive diagnostics and therapeutics to a wider population, by studying new molecules, inventing new methods and devising new instruments.
Developing radiopharmaceuticals for health
The development of novel radiopharmaceuticals is a rapidly evolving field that has revolutionized the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of diseases. Radiopharmaceuticals are unique in that they combine a biologically active molecule, such as a drug or antibody, with a radioactive isotope to create a targeted therapeutic or imaging agent. The use of these agents is growing at an unprecedented rate, driven by the increasing need for personalized medicine and the growing prevalence of chronic diseases. However, developing such important products requires a preliminary understanding of the biological targets, and, closer to the radiation field, availability of appropriate isotopes, of efficient radiolabelling methods, of automated synthesis approaches and adherence to regulations. This lecture will give an overview of the current paradigms and concepts adopted, thus providing the basis to anticipate the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
Jasmina Obhodas

Jasmina Obhođaš was born on December 12, 1974. Since 2001 she has been working at the Ruđer Bošković Institute (IRB), Zagreb, Croatia, in the Department of Experimental Physics. With her group, she founded the Laboratory for Nuclear Analytical Methods (LNAM) in 2009, which she still heads. She works on the development of atomic and nuclear techniques and instrumentation, including 14-MeV neutron activation and X-ray fluorescence, as well as data analysis. LNAM's major scientific achievements over the past 15 years have been: the development of the fast neutron activation method for the inspection of shipping containers; the development of a neutron sensor for in situ underwater analysis of elemental concentrations; the development of a remotely operated underwater vehicle for the neutron probe and additional positioning sensors; and the development of a method based on fast neutron activation with an associated alpha particle for oil drilling research.
She is also engaged in environmental research, including environmental quality monitoring, primarily using EDXRF and TXRF methods to determine the concentrations of elements in various liquid, solid, and biological matrices and climate change research that includes dating sediments using the Pb-210 method, calculating sedimentation rates, assessing carbon sequestration in sediments, and evaluating stable isotope ratios as an indicator of change in the marine environment. She is currently the lead project coordinator for the IAEA project RER7015, "Enhancing Coastal Management in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Aral Sea by Using Nuclear Analytical Techniques" (2018-2023). The project aims to collect sediment cores in enclosed and semi-enclosed seas of the EU to assess recent historical temperature variations and carbon fate in sediments to enable carbon storage assessment and evaluation of positive and negative synergies between pollution loading and sediment carbon sequestration potential. By identifying spatial patterns and temporal trends in pollutant concentrations and isotope ratios in environmental archives such as sediments, predictions of changes in marine processes can be evaluated to develop effective strategies for adapting to the future impacts of climate change. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers, environmental scientists, and other stakeholders who are working to address this critical global issue.
Although the field of research of dr.sc. Obhodas is diverse also including space, medical and food quality topics, in the background are always the applications of techniques based on the neutron, gamma, and X-ray detection and stable isotope analysis.
New insights from climate change studies using temporal trends of marine environment indicators
Rapid climate change due to human activities is an urgent global problem that has far-reaching implications for the environment and human society. The oceans are recognized to play a key role in mitigating or accelerating global warming trends, largely because of their ability to rapidly exchange carbon dioxide with the atmosphere. Water column temperature, acidity, and sea level are the most studied indicators of changes in the marine environment. All three are rising at alarming rates. In this study, we will examine some of the less obvious responses of the marine environment to rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations using case studies from the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, we highlight the impact of rapidly changing trends in salinity and sea temperature on the exchange of water masses between the upper and lower layers of the water column, affecting the oxygen content of deep-sea water, the acceleration of sedimentation rates, and the release of methane hydrates from marine sediments.
Recent observations reveal that the above-mentioned processes in the Mediterranean Sea have undergone significant changes in recent decades due to dramatic changes in temperature and salinity. The Mediterranean Sea, and especially the Adriatic Sea, are very sensitive to any small climate change. The aeration of the deep Eastern Mediterranean results from the circulation of oxygen-rich deep water, originating mainly from the Adriatic Sea. An increase in water temperature of only 0.7 °C or a small decrease in salinity of 0.2 °C could lead to stratification of the Adriatic water and prevent the formation of the oxygen-rich Adriatic Deep Water (AdDW). This stratification without complete mixing of sea layers is known as the meromictic condition. In the last two decades we have observed an abrupt increase in the average temperature and salinity of the AdDW, from 12.6 °C to 13.9 °C in temperature and from 38.6 to 38.9 in salinity. Assuming present-day conditions, this trend will continue, and one of the consequences we are facing is the hypoxia of the lower layers of the Adriatic Sea, with implications for the entire Mediterranean Sea. As a result, marine life in the lower layers is likely to deteriorate along with an increase in the methane-hydrates release from Mediterranean sediments that might further accelerate climate change.
This study aims to determine whether the Adriatic Sea is on the path to become meromictic and how this will affect oxygen levels, sedimentation rates, and methane-hydrate release in the Mediterranean basin. The study also highlights the need for continuous monitoring of these processes in seas and oceans worldwide. These changes have significant implications for marine ecosystems, including biodiversity loss, changes in fisheries, and impacts on coastal communities. The study will close the current knowledge gap and raise awareness of yet another climate change threat.
Travis Meador

Travis B. Meador graduated from the University of South Carolina (USA) with a BSc degree in Marine Science in 2001 and completed his PhD thesis at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego (USA) in 2008. He continued as a postdoc researcher at the University of the Aegean, Hellenic Center for Marine Research (Greece), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA), then worked as a postdoc and research associate at the MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (Bremen, Germany). In 2018, he began his current position as a group leader and head of the stable isotope facility at the Biology Centre Czech Academy of Sciences (Budweis, Czechia), where his research team investigates a wide variety of organic matter and nutrient processes in soil and aquatic ecosystems.
Travis has expertise in state-of-the-art techniques in both analytical chemistry and molecular biology to characterize the bulk chemical, functional group, and isotopic composition of physiologically and environmentally relevant molecules (i.e., biomarkers) found in natural organic matter and cultured organisms stemming from all three domains of life (i.e., Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archaea). These investigations have targeted a broad range of environmental settings, including: (i) the open ocean, the size of which renders global implications for molecular-level processes; (ii) coastal transects, where stark geochemical gradients establish hot spots of activity; and (iii) active soils and sediments, which harbor uncultured microorganisms performing unknown metabolisms.
The Meador lab currently applies innovative isotope techniques and works with collaborators across the globe to investigate topics including fungal activity, water isotopes in organics, nitrate cycling and contamination of surface and groundwaters, biochar and mineral associated organic matter, seagrass N cycling, invasive species, natural greenhouse gas emissions from streams, peatlands and thawing permafrost, biomarkers of paleoclimate, and more…
Novel isotope labeling approaches to determine organic matter transformations in the environment
In accordance with the European Commission’s 2030 Agenda goals to constrain organic carbon transformations in aquatic habitats, we have developed a dual isotope tracer technique using 13/12C and 2/1H to quantify metabolic and geochemical fluxes of the microbial loop. This approach was applied during two simultaneous case studies in a sub-alpine lake that (1) investigated fungal productivity and (2) the turnover of dissolved organic matter (DOM).
Case Study 1: Predicting organic matter reactivity and thus the carbon-climate feedback in aquatic ecosystems is limited by poor understanding of the turnover of “recalcitrant” organic matter in soils. As major decomposers in both aquatic and terrestrial food webs, fungi are among the few organisms on the planet that can metabolize recalcitrant C, but are also known to symbiotically and competitively access recently produced photosynthate. Therefore, improved quantification of substrate utilization by different fungal ecotypes will help to define the rates and controls of fungal production and the cycling of different reactive components of organic matter in the environment. This study employed a dual stable isotope probing approach of fungal lipid biomarkers to determine their growth rate and metabolic mode over spatial and seasonal gradients.
Case Study 2: DOM cycling is essential to understanding energy flow in aquatic ecosystems and their role as a source or sink of CO 2 in the global carbon cycle. Quantifying DOM turnover and reactivity has been confounded by the barely detectable changes in molecular composition and 13C & 15N stable-isotope compositions. We hypothesized that significant spatial and seasonal changes in biological productivity might be reflected in the transfer of water-derived H to DOM, providing a novel approach to assess DOM turnover in aquatic environments. An in-situ stable isotope labeling (HDO) experiment revealed (microbial) turnover of DOM occurred on a weekly timescale, and was faster in late Autumn than in Spring. Changes in the non-exchangeable stable H isotopic composition of DOM revealed a window of DOM reactivity that could not be seen through the lens of stable C isotope signals. Further development of 2/1H-DOM analyses may improve our understanding of the provenance and processing of DOM and better constrain unknowns in the metabolic balance of aquatic ecosystems.