Overview

The COST Action RADAM was established by the COST Physics Committee as its ninth Action Program (P9) in 2002. Funded for 4 years it has been ratified by 14 European countries and was formally launched in November 2003. Its main objective is to obtain a detailed understanding of the fundamental interaction processes initiated by the deposition of various types of radiation in biological material. This also introduces the exciting prospect that it may be possible to manipulate the effects of ionizing radiation at a molecular level within the cell.

A wide range of complementary experimental and theoretical expertise is brought together under this Program. The research requires interdisciplinary approaches to the interaction of photons, ions and electrons with biomolecular systems. The elucidation of fundamental energy transfer and coupling mechanisms, ionization, charge transport, and reaction behaviour will in turn be used to develop models of track structures in irradiated media. Such models can be used to determine a more reliable quantification of human epidemiological experience when subject to low radiation doses.

The COST action RADAM arranged annual meetings of the network

  • RADAM 2007 in Dublin (Ireland), 19th- 22nd June.
  • RADAM 2006 in Groningen (The Netherlands), 6th-9th June
  • RADAM 2005 in Potsdam (Germany), 16th-20th March
  • RADAM 2004 in Lyon (France), 24th-27th June

The action officially ended in November 2007, however it was clearly expressed at the last RADAM meeting in Dublin that the community would like to continue working together, therefore it was decided to continue with the RADAM conference series. The RADAM meeting in 2008 will be held in Debrecen (Hungary), from the 13th to 15th June 2008.

RADAM 2008 is the first annual conference which is not organized and supported by the COST P9 network. We strongly believe, however, that it will be beneficial for the RADAM Community to follow the tradition and organize the annual RADAM conference(s), until we can continue our collaboration within the framework of a new European project.

Following the traditions of our earlier annual conferences, the local organizers kindly ask the chairs of the Working Groups to organize two sessions for their topics. We also ask the members of the International Committee, to help the chairs of the Working Groups and the local organizers with suggestions and nominations. Self-nominations addressed to the chairs are also possible. The program of the Conference will present new and original results from leading researchers in the areas of:

Working Group 1: Electron and biomolecular interactions
(Chair: David Field )

Working Group 2: Ions and Biomolecular Interactions
(Chair: Thomas Schlathölter )

Working Group 3: Radiation Damage in Physiological (Cellular) Environments.
(Chair: Kevin McGuigan )

Working Group 4: Theoretical Developments for Radiation Damage
(Chair: Marie-Christine Bacchus )

Working Group 5: Track Structure in Cells
(Chair: Herwig Paretzke )