Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored radium’s chemistry to advance cancer treatments using ionizing radiation.

Radium-223 is a radioisotope used to treat cancer that has spread to bones. Chemically, radium behaves like calcium inside the body and is readily adsorbed by bones, where it destroys cancer cells and lessens pain for patients. Radium therapy has the potential to treat other forms of cancer, but insights on radium’s chemistry are needed.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Tuskegee University researchers used mathematics to predict which areas of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are most likely to mutate.

In a study supported by the National Science Foundation, the team analyzed the topology of more than 13,000 Protein Data Bank structures and found that mutations in the virus’s spike protein were most likely to occur in areas with high topological free energy, which makes a protein less stable.

Global carbon emissions from inland waters such as lakes, rivers, streams and ponds are being undercounted by about 13% and will likely continue to rise given climate events and land use changes, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists found.

A multi-lab research team led by Paul Kent of Oak Ridge National Laboratory is developing a computer application called QMCPACK to enable precise and reliable predictions of the fundamental properties of materials critical in energy research.

The application uses quantum Monte Carlo simulations to compute material properties down at the level of atoms and electrons. Simulation data will complement experimental data in discovering new materials to improve energy technology from batteries to generation methods. 

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been selected to lead an Energy Frontier Research Center, or EFRC, focused on polymer electrolytes for next-generation energy storage devices such as fuel cells and solid-state electric vehicle batteries.