Applications

Technetium-99m radioisotope generator developed at Brookhaven.

Numerous physics-related programs at Brookhaven have yielded major advances in medicine and various technologies. Brookhaven’s nuclear medicine program, which began in the 1950s, uses the Brookhaven Linac Isotope Producer to make radioisotopes for nuclear medicine diagnostics and treatment throughout the world. Today, more than 85 percent of all imaging examinations worldwide use one of the radioisotopes developed at Brookhaven.

At Brookhaven’s Center for Translational Neuroimaging, researchers can peer into a living brain through the use of various imaging modalities, including positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and optical imaging. Such research has led to a new understanding of drug addiction. Researchers at the center have also studied such conditions as aging, obesity, attention deficit disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and schizophrenia.

Brookhaven has applied a nuclear chemistry technique called neutron activation autoradiography to the analysis of oil paintings, sculpture, and archaeological artifacts to determine the origin of the work of art or relic. A wide variety of art and artifacts have been studied at Brookhaven, from Rembrandt’s paintings to Mayan pottery.

> Into the future

Last Modified: February 4, 2008

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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