“Dzhelepov for me is an example of the scientist who not only pursued science but also created conditions for it to develop over decades”

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. 

Since 2018, I have been working in the DLNP Department of Colliding Beams. I started as an engineer, and since that time all my work has been connected with semiconductor detectors of the Timepix and Medipix families. At the very beginning I was working on the MARS microtomograph: after replacing old chambers, we had to do a series of calibrations and make it work. And we did it. Nowadays we together with the colleagues from MSU are using it to conduct multi-energy computed tomography (MECT). It allowed studying promising contrast agents and carrying out research of paleontological and archeological objects. It took me a year to finish this work in close cooperation with the developers of the MARS system – our New Zealand colleagues. I was amazed by how they developed it or, to be more precise, how the students developed it by writing the code in blocks which did not always correlate but that is another story.

In parallel with this task, I started working on coded apertures – specific collimators which may be used for carrying out micro-SPECT research. A prototype of this system was made, phantoms were developed, and measurements were done. Aleksei Sergeevich Zhemchugov was the head of the work. He taught me a lot about how to organise research and to do experiments, and most importantly how to structure and organise the work. We together with Georgy Aleksandrovich Chelkov have been carrying out the research on MECT, and thanks to him it became clear to me how to organise work in the group and how truth is born in dispute. I suppose it is the main points thanks to which the words “tomography” and “semiconductor detectors” were included in the list of my scientific interests in addition to medical physics.

What kind of scientific and professional achievements do you consider to be the most significant ones?

Among my achievements I would like to point out the following:

1. Development of the prototype of  micro-SPECT system;
2. Multi-energy tomographic research for developing new contrast agents;
3. Work connected with the approval of the documentation and blueprints on development of monochromator and its further calibration and adjustment. The first paper on this topic will be published soon.

Who recommended you as a candidate for the scholarship? What works were included in your application?

Aleksei Vyacheslavovich Guskov, the head of the department, drew my attention to the fact that the call for applications opened and I should update the application of the year before last. In addition, the work on studying prospects of using lanthanides as contrast agents was at its height. Five papers were published among which I would like to mention one connected with the description of the method of determining elemental composition that also allowed highly accurately determining the concentration of elements in the chosen volume. I guess, reading these lines, Rostislav Vladislavovich Sotensky (with whom I wrote this article), would recall in terror how at the end of November, we were writing this article in a big rush.

What scientific and professional plans for the scholarship year do you have?

I am not sure that I will make it but I will do my best to do everything in one year, though it may well take three or four years:

• First and foremost, it is the defense of the candidate dissertation.
• Then, it is necessary to make a step forward the prototype and toward a good analogue of commercial micro-SPECT systems, especially since there are customers. For this purpose it is necessary to pay much attention to software.
• My acquaintance with neural networks showed that for some with segmentation and data processing issues in MCT, their use is a good objective in this direction. I want to test this speculation and simplify life both for myself and for all those who will deal with this objective in the future.
• To analyse the possibility of using coded aperture in SPECT as a lens which will allow a great decrease in the time of scanning. We need to study this issue and test it experimentally.
• There is more work to be done with oilmen to determine the concentrations of hydrocarbons in upwelling water-oil streams…

We will continue the work and we are not ready to rest!

Venedikt Petrovich Dzhelepov is the first Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research who formed its structure and laid the foundation of its scientific and organizational traditions. What do his figure, contribution to science and history of DLNP JINR mean for you?

I really like the book series “The Portrait against the background of the Epoch”. There was a book about Venedikt Petrovich in the series. He was a man with a wonderful life and of wonderful energy. Obviously, it is important for me that he was the first in the USSR to use the proton therapy for treating cancer. But it should also be pointed out that Venedikt Petrovich Dzhelepov is one who is inseparably associated with the formation of the JINR Laboratory of Nuclear Problems. He was not just the first director but actually the architect of the laboratory scientific programme, organisational structure, and work culture.

I cannot but recall his contribution to the development of

1) nuclear physics: Dzhelepov was one of the main scientists who developed scientific directions related to weak interactions, spectroscopy of β-decay, and neutrino physics;

2) experimental basis: under his guidance the great infrastructure was made at DLNP, including the U-300 cyclotron, which became the basis for further research in the field of nuclear medicine;

3) scientific schools: Dzhelepov was not only an organiser but also a mentor of several generations of scientists who continued his legacy.

I think that specifically for DLNP JINR he established the tradition of cooperation – international, interdisciplinary, and open approach to science. Thanks to him, the laboratory became the centre of cutting-edge research including neutrino physics that is still relevant. He shaped the DLNP organisational structure: striving to get advanced equipment and to implement the comprehensive approach to research and to the work with young specialists.

Dzhelepov for me is an example of the scientist who not only pursued science but also created conditions for it to develop over decades. His ideas and decisions have been still determining directions of research at DLNP. And perhaps the most important thing is that he left behind not only equipment and articles, but also people who continue his legacy.

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