Research Highlights

These are highlights of research published by DOE Low Dose Radiation Research Program investigators.

2012

• Translationally Controlled Tumor Protein Induced by Low-Dose Radiation Protects Against DNA Damage In research published online in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, scientists at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the Fourth Military Medical University in the People's Republic of China described an important role of a multifunctional protein in response to low dose radiation-induced DNA damage.
• Tony Brooks Chosen As Lauriston S. Taylor Lecturer Congratulations to radiation biologist Dr. Antone "Tony" Brooks, a consultant to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Low Dose Radiation Research Program, on his selection to give the 36th Lauriston S. Taylor Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). Brooks is former chief scientist for the U.S. Department of Energy's Low Dose Radiation Research Program. His lecture, titled "From the Field to the Laboratory and Back: The What Ifs, Wows, and Who Cares of Radiation Biology," will be a featured presentation at the meeting, which will be held March 12 and 13, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda, Bethesda, Maryland. Learn More...
• Human Skin Model Shows Signaling Pathway Effects from Low Dose Exposure
  In studies on a human skin tissue model, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory used a systems biology approach to show that an ionizing radiation dose mimicking that received during a CT scan is sufficient to alter genes in two cell layers.
• Study Shows Roles of Receptor, Thiol on Adaptive Response—Low Dose program-supported scientists at The University of Chicago have gained more insight into adaptive protective responses indicating the role of oxidative stress, the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the induction of SOD2 (manganese Superoxide Dismutase) activity. These changes are central to the production of adaptive protective responses. Learn More...
• Update—New Take on Impacts of Low Dose Radiation Published in PNAS The article led to a commentary in PNAS in January 2012 by Low Dose researcher, Lynn Hlatky, at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, MA. Dr. Hlatky's commentary, entitled "Double-strand break motions shift radiation risk notions?" The commentary is available online.
• New Take on Impacts of Low Dose Radiation Published in PNAS
  Low Dose researchers Sylvain Costes and Mina Bissell, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, are part of a research team that has found evidence suggesting cancer risk may not be proportional to dose at low levels of ionizing radiation. The results were published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) December 19. See the news release from LBNL and "Evidence for formation of DNA repair centers and dose-response nonlinearity in human cells"

• Update
  The article led to a commentary in PNAS in January 2012 by Low Dose researcher, Lynn Hlatky, at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, MA. Dr. Hlatky's commentary, entitled "Double-strand break motions shift radiation risk notions?"

2011

• New Take on Impacts of Low Dose Radiation Published in PNAS
  Low Dose researchers Sylvain Costes and Mina Bissell, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, are part of a research team that has found evidence suggesting cancer risk may not be proportional to dose at low levels of ionizing radiation. The results were published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) December 19. See the news release from LBNL.

• Radiation-Induced Bystander Effects and Relevance to Human Radiation Exposures Review of phenomenon appears in Radiation Research
  One concern of radiobiologists is the effect radiation exposure might have on nearby unirradiated cells. For example, when only a small fraction of cells are directly hit by radiation energy, are the surrounding unirradiated cells also at an increased risk of cancer?

• Latest Research, Response to Fukushima, Integrating Low Dose into Policy-All Featured at Annual Investigators' Workshop
  The 10^th DOE Low Dose Radiation Research Program Investigators' Workshop was held May 9-11 in Bethesda, Maryland. The workshop featured plenary presentations by current program investigators on their research, three guest speakers, and poster sessions.

• Ionizing Radiation Exposure Stimulates Expression of Clusterin
  Exposure to doses of ionizing radiation (IR) >10 cGy can stimulate induction of secretory clusterin (sCLU), an extracellular molecular chaperone protein that clears cell debris and increases cell survival in response to damage.

• Ionizing Radiation Affects Cancer Frequency and Characteristics by Acting on the Microenvironment
  For more than a quarter century the scientific rationale for extrapolating radiation health effects has been underpinned by biophysical target theory. Fundamental to target theory is that the effect (e.g., DNA damage, mutation, cancer) is proportional to dose based on interaction of energy with biological targets, specifically DNA.

• Life Scientist Elected as Physics Councilor
  Congratulations to Low Dose Program investigator Dr. Sylvain Costes, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who was recently elected to a 3-year term as Physics Councilor of the Radiation Research Society.

• Health Physics Special Issue Features Contributions by Low Dose Investigators
  The March 2011 special issue of Health Physics highlights the Victor Bond Workshop held May 2-5, 2010, in Richland, Wash. The workshop honored the late Dr. Victor (Vic) Bond for his lifetime achievement in the radiation sciences.

• Modeling Radiation Energy Deposition in a Complex Biological System
  Research involving selective irradiation of a human skin tissue model is improving how scientists determine the overall effects of low doses of ionizing radiation such as might be received during certain medical procedures or occupational exposures. Scientists at Washington State University-Tri Cities and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are modeling electron energy deposition patterns as produced by the electron microbeam developed at PNNL to determine how it may be used in the study of more complex biological systems.

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2010

• Proteomic Profiling of Low-Dose Radiation Effects on Human Skin Cells
  In the most comprehensive analysis of its type published to date, scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have found that exposing human skin tissue cells, or fibroblasts, to low doses of ionizing radiation regulates phosphorylation of proteins that are involved in a wide range of biological processes. In short, the body can sense low doses of radiation and activate the cell signaling pathways needed to respond to any induced cellular damage.

• Low Dose Paper Honored by Mutation Research
  Low Dose Program Investigators William Morgan and Marianne Sowa, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's have one of the Top Ten Cited papers in 2007 and 2008 in Mutation Research: Fundamental & Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis. They authored the article "Non-targeted bystander effects induced by ionizing radiation."

  They were also recognized for "exceptional contributions to the quality of the Mutation Research series" by Jennifer Whittaker, Executive Publisher, Elsevier, USA. The series consists of three journals on mutagenesis, chromosome breakage, and related subjects.

  Reference: Morgan WF and MB Sowa. 2007. "Non-targeted bystander effects induced by ionizing radiation." Mutation Research 616(1-2):159-164.

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Archive

• Collateral Damage
• Real-time imaging of repair processes possible with Nickel-63 microirradiator.
• DNA Double-Strand Break Repair Capacities Before and After Exposure to Low Dose Radiation.
• Low Dose Investigator one of Canada's Top 40
• Bill Morgan and Tony Brooks Interview with the LA Times
• Do Heritable Differences in an Individual's Immune System Predict Differential Sensitivity to Low Dose Radiation Exposure?
• Are Radiation-Induced Bystander Effects a Universal Phenomenon?
  Studies on human cells fail to find low-LET radiation-induced damage in untargeted cells.