Particle Physics Might Just Save Your Life : Practical Medical Applications Enabled by Fundamental Scientific Research at Fermilab – Lecture by Dr. Jennifer Raaf

What is the practical application of your research?” This is a question frequently asked of particle physicists, and also one of the more difficult questions to answer! This talk will present a few practical medical applications that have been enabled by fundamental scientific research at Fermilab. In particular, this talk will focus on a novel ventilator called the Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM), that was developed for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Fermilab staff, working together with an international team of physicists, engineers, and medical doctors, were involved with many aspects of this device, from hardware design and testing to software development and approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use during the pandemic.

Jennifer Raaf is a Senior Scientist and head of the DUNE Department in the Neutrino Division at Fermilab. Her research focuses on neutrino physics and searches for rare decays that are enabled by the very large size detectors and low-background environments that are required for neutrino experiments. She specializes in detector instrumentation, with a particular interest in liquid and gaseous argon time projection chambers.

This talk will be presented virtually on the Zoom platform. Reserve your spot just as you would order a (free)  ticket on-line at events.fnal.gov. We will send an email reminder one week before to the talk, and then the Zoom link one day prior.