SEMINAR      Wednesday, 13 April 2005 - h. 15:00  Aula Seminari     U. Majewska (Kielce, Poland) Interdisciplinary applications of X-ray fluorescence methods Abstract Among many methods of trace elements determination in biomedical, environmental samples, archaeological and art objects or in material study, the method based on excitation and detection of characteristic X-rays plays a significant role. Specially XRF, TXRF, PIXE techniques are the analitycal tools that have been widely used in the interdisciplinary applications for many years. Nowadays a combination of microfocus tubes with highly efficient capillary optical elements, the x-ray sources of high power and brilliance (synchrotron radiation) and Free Electron Lasers give the new possibilities of applications in the field of spectroscopy, biology, medicine etc. This report presents the results obtained by my group in the field of application of x-ray fluorescence method to the study of correlation between the level of elements and the clinical stage of examined disease and histopatological grading, influence of environmental pollution on human organism as well as the investigation of trace element distributions inwards the wooden sculptures from the Altar of Veit Stoss in Cracow (Poland) and bulk and trace element levels in the surface and near surface region of Celtic glass-work from Middle and Late La Tene periods. Finally, I would like to invite you to the discussion about possibilities of using the capillary optical elements and synchrotron radiation in our future interdisciplinary, but especially medical, research.