Medica-Plus: a Micromegas-based proof-of-concept detector for sub-becquerel tritium activity assessment at the service of oncological research

TL;DR

Medica-Plus is a novel Micromegas-based detector designed for ultra-sensitive detection of tritium activity at sub-becquerel levels, aiding oncological research by tracking radiolabeled drugs at the cellular level.

Contribution

This paper introduces a new Micromegas detector capable of detecting extremely low tritium activities, demonstrating its potential for biological and medical applications.

Findings

Successfully detects sub-becquerel tritium activities

Comparable or superior to commercial beta-imagers in sensitivity

Enables single-cell level radiolabeled drug tracking

Abstract

To fulfill needs in oncological research a new Micromegas detector has been developed to follow radiolabelled drugs in living organisms at the single cell level. This article describes the proof-of-concept of such a detector and compares its ability to detect and assess sub-becquerel \tritium~activities with a commercial $\beta$-imager