John Duke, PhD, MSc, BSc

Area of Study / Keywords

NAA Gamma-ray spectrometry XRF

About

John Duke is currently appointed as an FSO (IV) in the Department of Oncology, Division of Diagnostic Imaging, in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry since 2018.

Research

After over three decades of working with the University of Alberta’s SLOWPOKE-II Nuclear Reactor Facility, including fifteen years as Director of the facility and being part of the team that oversaw the decommissioning of the reactor in 2017, I transferred to the Medical Isotope and Cyclotron Facility (MICF) on South Campus.

At the MICF, my primary research focuses on the development and application of neutron activation analysis (NAA) utilizing the by-product neutrons generated during operation of the MICF TR-24 medical cyclotron.

A secondary research interest centres on applying portable X-ray analyzers for the non-destructive, multi-element analysis of a wide variety of materials. XRF finds application in many disciplines including, for example, archaeology (especially in provenance studies), geology, metallurgy, and environmental studies.

Additionally, I operate a gamma-ray spectrometry laboratory equipped with several high-resolution, low-background hyperpure germanium (HPGe) detectors, which are employed in the analysis of both anthropogenic and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM).

Publications in past 10 years

Duke, M.J.M. (2024) Determination of the silicon content of geological materials by reactor fast neutron activation analysis. J. Radioanal. Nuc. Chem., 333, 6699-6706. doi.org/10.1007/s10967-024-09759-1

Oleksandrenko, A., Appleby, P.G., Duke, M.J.M., Noernberg, T. and Shotyk, W. (2024) Americium-241 in peat bogs as a global marker of the beginning of the Anthropocene: examples from Europe and North America. Environ. Rev., 32(4), 707-725. doi.org/10.1139/er-2023-0097

Nelson, B.J.B, Ferguson, S., Wuest, M., Wilson, J., Duke, M.J.M., Richter, S., Juengling, F., Sonke-Jans, H., Andersson, J.D. and Wuest, F. (2022) First in vivo and phantom imaging of cyclotron produced 133La as a theranostic radionuclide for 225Ac and 135La. J. Nuc. Med., 63, 584-590.

Nelson, B.J.B, Wilson, J., Duke, M.J.M., Wuest, M. and Wuest, F. (2020) Taking cyclotron 68Ga production to the next level: Expeditious solid target production of 68Ga for preparation of radiotracers.  Nuc. Med. Biol, 80-81, 24-31. 

Kristensen, T.J., Andrews, T.D., MacKay, G., Gotthardt, R., Lynch, S.C., Duke, M.J.M., Locock, A.J., and Ives, J.W. (2019) Identifying and sourcing pyrometamorphic artifacts: Clinker in subarctic North America and the hunter-gatherer response to a Late Holocene volcanic eruption. J. Archaeo. Sci. Rep., 23, 773-790. 

Kristensen, T.J., Moffat, E., Duke, M.J.M., Locock, A.J., Sharphead, C. and Ives, J.W. (2018) Identifying Knife River Flint in Alberta: a silicified lignite toolstone from North Dakota. Archaeological Survey of Alberta Occasional Paper No. 38, p.1-24.

Bicalho, B., Grant-Weaver, I., Sinn, C., Donner, M.W., Woodland, S., Pearson, G., Larter, S., Duke, J. and Shotyk, W. (2017) Determination of ultratrace (<0.1 mg/kg) elements in Athabasca Bituminous Sands mineral and bitumen fractions using inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS). Fuel, 206, 248-257.

Duke, M.J.M., Hallin, A.L., Krauss, C.B., Mekarski, P. and Sibley, L. (2016) A precise method to determine the activity of a weak neutron source using a germanium detector. Appl. Radiat. Isot., 116, 51-56.

Green, A., Erhardt, L, Lebel, L., Duke, M.J.M., Jones, T., White, D. and Quayle, D. (2016) Overview of the Full-Scale Radiological Dispersal Device Field Trials. Health Physics, 110, 403-417.

Shotyk, W., Bicalho, B., Cuss, C.W., Duke, M.J.M., Noernberg, T., Pelletier, R., Steinnes, E., and Zaccone, C. (2016) Dust is the dominant source of “heavy metals” to peat moss (Sphagnum fuscum) in the bogs of the Athabasca Bituminous Sands Region of northern Alberta. Environ. Int., 92-93, p. 494-506.

Lynch, S.C., Locock, A.J., Duke, M.J.M. and Weber, A.W. (2016) Evaluating the applicability of portable-XRF for the characterization of Hokkaido Obsidian sources: a comparison with INAA, ICP-MS and EPMA. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 309, 257-265.

Kristensen, T.J., Andrews, T.D., MacKay, G., Lynch, S.C., Duke, M.J.M., Locock, A.J., Ives, J.W. (2016) Tertiary Hills Clinker in Alberta: A partially fused vesicular toolstone from the Mackenzie Basin of Northwest Territories, Canada. Archaeological Survey of Alberta Occasional Paper No. 36., p. 100-112.

Kristensen, T.J., Morin, J., Duke, M.J.M., Locock, A.J., Lakevold, C., Giering, K. and Ives, J.W. (2016) Pre-contact jade in Alberta: The geochemistry, mineralogy, and archaeological significance of nephrite ground stone tools.  Archaeological Survey of Alberta Occasional Paper No. 36., p. 113-135.

Shotyk, W., Belland, R., Duke J., Kempter, H., Krachler, M., Noernberg, T., Pelletier, R., Vile, M. A., Wieder, K., Zaccone, C. and Zhang, S. (2015) Response to Comment on “Sphagnum Mosses from 21 Ombrotrophic Bogs in the Athabasca Bituminous Sands Region Show No Significant Atmospheric Contamination of ‘Heavy Metals’”. Environ. Sci. Technol., 49 (10), 6354 - 6357.

Aghazadeh-Habashi, A., Duke, J. and Jamali, F. (2014) The Impact of Implementation of the Canadian Regulatory Requirements on the Quality of Natural Health Products: The Glucosamine Case. J. Pharm.  Pharmaceut. Sci., 17(1), 20-24.

Bilinova, A. I., Herd, C.D.K., and Duke, M.J.M. (2014) Testing variations within the Tagish Lake meteorite—II: Whole-rock geochemistry of pristine samples. Meteorit. Planet. Sci., 49 (6), 1100-1118.

Shotyk, W., Belland, R., Duke, J., Kempter, H., Krachler, M., Noernberg, T., Pelletier, R.,  Vile, M. A., Wieder, K., Zaccone, C. and Zhang.S. (2014) Sphagnum Mosses from 21 Ombrotrophic Bogs in the Athabasca Bituminous Sands Region Show No Significant Atmospheric Contamination of “Heavy Metals”.  Environ. Sci. Technol., 48 (21), 12603–12611.

Teaching

My teaching largely involves giving guest lectures in a variety of courses, including:

• CHEM-669 (Special Topics - Nuclear Chemistry)
• ONCOL-564 (Physics of Nuclear Medicine)
• ONCOL-475 (Fundamentals of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences)