An accident at a nuclear power plant or an incident in a laboratory: radioactive substances can enter the human body through inhalation, ingestion or wounds. Once inside the body, they can accumulate in organs or bones, with potentially serious consequences. But what can be done? To date, only one approved drug is available worldwide for such cases, and it is effective against only some radioactive elements.
Jason Ross is researching this problem. The doctoral researcher at TU Dresden (TUD) and guest scientist at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) is working on developing new compounds that can remove radioactive elements from the body. For his work, he has now been awarded the prestigious Roy G. Post Fellowship.
A team from two countries
Ross is not working alone. The ActiDecorp project brings together researchers from Germany and France. TU Dresden and HZDR collaborate with the Université de Strasbourg, the Université Bourgogne Europe in Dijon, and the French radiation protection authority ASNR in Paris. While fundamental chemical studies are conducted in Dresden, new chelator structures are synthesized in Strasbourg and tested for stability in Dijon. In Paris, the most promising candidates are evaluated in animal studies.
The research has implications far beyond medicine—for example for the remediation of contaminated soils or for new technologies to detect radioactive substances in the environment.
