Undergraduate Research at Jefferson Lab

Web Interface for SNIPP (Search for New Isotope Pathways)

Student: Maggie Emig

School: Rochester Institute of Tech

Mentored By: Andrew Hutton

Radioisotopes are used in diagnostics and/or therapy for patients. Though many radioisotopes are available for medical use, it is important to develop new radioisotopes with desirable qualities or new paths to produce existing radioisotopes. In general, radioisotopes are produced by hitting a target isotope with a projectile. The desirable qualities to be considered for production pathways are the type of ejected particle, the range of energy and half-lifes, etc. For this project, a website was created and linked to a python program, SNIPP, coded by two previous REU students. Users enter the criteria desired, and the website returns a list that produce the desired radioisotopes. Each radioisotope on the output list has their characteristics displayed, the production pathway and co-produced radioisotopes that could be dangerous to healthy cells around the place of treatment. A website that gives the user the ability to discover new radioisotopes, opens the possibility of finding new treatments or diagnostics. The overall goal and purpose of the program is to find possible pathways to produce additional medically useful radioisotopes.

[Watch the presentation on YouTube]