Neutron radiobiology studies with a pure cold neutron beam: application to the measurement of the thermal neutron RBE of A375 melanoma cells for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Pedrosa-Rivera, María Ruiz-Magaña, María José Porras Sánchez, José Ignacio Praena Rodríguez, Antonio Javier Torres Sánchez, Pablo Sabariego Quintanilla, Manuel Köster, U. Forsyth, T. Soldner, T. Haertlein, M. Ruiz Ruiz, María Carmen Neutron radiobiology Neutron sources Boron neutron capture therapy Data on the radiobiological effects of thermal neutrons are usually obtained from irradiations in a mixed field of neutrons of different energies and gamma rays or from conversion of proton data with similar energies to those created in the neutron capture on nitrogen. Experimental data from irradiations in a pure thermal or cold neutron beam can help to find new values for neutron relative biological effectiveness (RBE) factors, which are useful for BNCT (Boron Neutron Capture Therapy) and radiation protection applications. We present a new experimental setup for radiobiological studies at a cold neutron beam at Institut Laue-Langevin, a beam without fast neutron component and almost no gamma ray contribution. After the irradiation, survival assays are performed to obtain the survival curves. Finally, comparing with a reference photon irradiation, the thermal neutron RBE factors can be calculated. The methodology is outlined at the example of A375 melanoma cells for which new radiobiological data were obtained. 2019-09-05T08:40:29Z 2019-09-05T08:40:29Z 2019 info:eu-repo/semantics/preprint http://hdl.handle.net/10481/56695 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License