“It is a great honour for me to receive the V. P. Dzhelepov Scholarship”
Please tell us a little bit about yourself: how long you have been working at DLNP JINR, which department you are working at, and what the scope of your scientific interests is.
I got a position at JINR soon after graduating from D. I. Mendeleev Russian University of Chemical Technology, and for 9 years I have been working at DLNP, at the Department of Nuclear Spectroscopy and Radiochemistry, in Sector 4 of Radiochemistry under the guidance of Dmitry Vladimirovich Filosofov. The area of my scientific interests includes studying post-decay processes in radiopharmaceuticals and their precursors using nuclear spectroscopy methods, particularly, the method of perturbed angular correlations (PAC) being actively developed in our department. Apart from that, my scientific interests include development and trial of radiochemical schemes of radiometal separation for nuclear medicine.
Which of your scientific and professional achievements do you consider to be most significant?
Among the results obtained I would like to point out the development of the $^{44m}Sc$/$^{44g}Sc$ radionuclide generator, based on post effects of radioactive decay, which allowed dividing nuclear isomers. Earlier, the development of this generator was regarded as hardly probable, and the influence of post-decay processes was considered to be not so great. I think of this result as my personal victory which demanded high perseverance and patience from me. The result opened for me and our group new prospects for further study of post-decay processes in radiopharmaceuticals for radionuclides in this Z area (for small and medium Z).
Who nominated you for the scholarship? What works were included in your application?
Sergei Vladimirovich Rozov, the head of the Department of Nuclear Spectroscopy and Radiochemistry, nominated me for the scholarship. The works included in the application are the most significant ones in my scientific career, namely, works on getting $^{111}In$ from antimony targets irradiated by protons with the energy of 600 MeV at the DLNP phasotron, works on using the PAC method to estimate the stability of radiopharmaceuticals, and the recent works on getting $^{44}Sc$ diagnostic radionuclide for positron-emission tomography as well as therapeutically promising $^{135}La$ Auger-emitter.
What scientific and professional plans do you have for the scholarship year?
This year the most important goal for me is the defense of my candidate dissertation. In addition, my colleagues and I are planning to continue experiments to study post decay processes for some of the radionuclides with a low Z.
Venedikt Petrovich Dzhelepov is the first Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research who formed the laboratory structure and laid the foundation of its scientific and organizational traditions. What do his figure, contribution to science and history of DLNP JINR mean to you?
In addition to the merits of Venedikt Petrovich Dzhelepov as a remarkable scientist, director and organiser, I would like to mention his initiative to develop the then new direction – proton therapy of cancer. It was Venedikt Petrovich who started developing this scientific field in the USSR and predicted the significance of these studies. To my mind, acknowledgment of the works on proton therapy became the basis for involving DLNP in the research not only in particle physics, nuclear physics, and accelerator physics, but also in the related and interdisciplinary fields. It is a great honour for me to receive the V. P. Dzhelepov Scholarship.