Electron momentum spectroscopy of radiosensitizers New benchmark data for assessing the theoretical models

对原子或分子微观细节的了解有助于我们理解重要的宏观物理和化学过程，这些过程支撑着许多领域，如健康、能源和技术。这种知识可以从预测感兴趣的行为的新模型的发展中获得，在这种情况下，所选化合物作为辐射敏感剂的有效性。随着用于计算微观细节(即电子结构)的量子理论的复杂性增加，它们的准确性需要根据最全面的实验数据进行评估。这确保了当模型扩展到具有技术和社会意义的应用时，它们的预测是可靠的。电子动量谱(EMS)测量最接近电子波函数的可观测数据，并提供一种对此类计算的质量进行严格评估的方法。在这个项目中，EMS将应用于一系列潜在的放射敏感性。癌症是全球主要的死亡原因，因此也是对人类健康的最大挑战。因此，一个全球性的科学挑战是开发广泛使用的有效、低成本的癌症治疗方法。DNA是编码生命指令的信息分子。当DNA受到不可修复的破坏时，细胞就不能正常工作了。这在放射治疗中被利用，在放射治疗中，辐射被用来故意破坏癌细胞，导致细胞死亡。放射治疗是一种有效且具有成本效益的癌症治疗方法，大约70%的患者将放射治疗作为其治疗计划的一部分。对于治疗癌症的放射治疗，它必须杀死肿瘤细胞，以及所有可能导致肿瘤重新生长的细胞。然而，这种剂量的辐射会对周围的健康组织造成广泛的损害。辐射增敏剂是一种化合物，它选择性地增强辐射对癌细胞的损害，允许治疗剂量的辐射传递到癌症部位，而对周围健康组织的影响要小得多。因此，发现新的、有效的放射增敏剂是癌症研究的目标。EMS将被用来提供对电子结构的全面测量，这决定了化学结构、性质和反应，可以用来选择潜在的新的放射增敏剂。

Knowledge of the microscopic details of atoms or molecules contributes to our understanding of important macroscopic physical and chemical processes that underpin many areas such as health, energy and technology. Such knowledge can be derived from the development of new models to predict the behaviour of interest, in this case the efficacy of chosen compounds as radiosensitizers.As quantum theories used to calculate the microscopic details, i.e., the electronic structure, increase in sophistication their accuracy needs to be evaluated against the most comprehensive experimental data available. This ensures that when the models are extended to applications of technological and societal significance their predications are reliable. Electron momentum spectroscopy (EMS) measures the closest observable to the electronic wavefunction and provides a means to perform a stringent evaluation of the quality of such calculations. In this project EMS will be applied to a suite of potential radiosensitizers.Cancer is leading cause of death worldwide and as such is the greatest challenge to human health. A global scientific challenge is therefore to develop effective and low-cost cancer treatments with widespread access.DNA is the informational molecule that encodes the instructions for life. When DNA is irreparably damaged the cell stops functioning correctly. This is exploited in radiotherapy treatments where radiation is used to intentionally damage cancerous cells to cause cell death. Radiotherapy is an effective and cost-efficient cancer treatment with approximately 70% of patients receiving radiotherapy as part of their treatment plan. For radiotherapy to cure a cancer, it must kill the tumour cells, and all cells that could lead to the regrowth of the tumour. However, this amount of radiation would result in extensive damage to the surrounding healthy tissue.Radiosensitizers are compounds that selectively enhance the radiation-induced damage to cancer cells, allowing curative doses of radiation to be delivered to the cancer site, while having much less effect on the surrounding healthy tissue. Therefore, the discovery of new, efficient radiosensitizers a goal of cancer research.EMS will be used to provide a comprehensive measurement of the electronic structure, which determines chemical structure, properties and reactions that can be used to select potential new radiosensitizers.