CENTER FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT MINIMALLY-INVASIVE DOSIMETRY

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Our overall theme is product development for very high throughput minimally-invasive radiation biodosimetry. After a large-scale radiological event, there will be a major need to assess, within a few days, the radiation doses received by tens of thousands of individuals. By contrast, current "high throughput" biodosimetry can, at best, assess a few hundred individuals / day. We will develop practical minimally-invasive devices to meet this need, capable of assessing tens of thousands of individuals per day. The Consortium represents a multidisciplinary balance between radiation biologists, radiation physicists, radiation chemists, mechanical engineers, software engineers, product development experts, commercial companies in the field, and end users. The three areas that we have identified as having the highest potential for high-throughput biodosimetry are cytogenetics, functional genomics, and metabolomics; each area has its own project, supported by a bioinformatics core, a functional genomics core, a fabrication core and, crucially, a product development core. The three projects are linked in terms of the overall theme, their use of the Core Resources, and also in terms of their shared use of the same sources of human samples - blood/urine/buccal cells from total-body irradiated patients: Project 1: Automated Robotically-Based High-Throughput Radiation Biodosimetry - We will develop a high-throughput biodosimetry device, using purpose-built robotics and advanced high speed, automated image acquisition. Throughput will reach 30,000 samples per day, compared with current throughputs of a few hundred samples per day. Several endpoints (micronuclei and y-H2AX foci) and several tissues (blood lymphocytes, reticuloctyes, and exfoliated cells from urine) can be used. Project 2: Biodosimetry with a Fully Integrated Biochip using Gene Expression Signatures - Exposure to ionizing radiation produces a well-defined dose-dependent signature in terms of changes in gene expression. Our goal is to use such a signature, which will be established through the Functional Genomics Core, to generate a self-contained radiation biodosimeter device, based on a blood finger stick. Project 3: Rapid Non-Invasive Radiation Biodosimetry through Metabolomics - Here the overall aim is to identify and utilize a signature of radiation exposure through metabolomics, in order to develop a very fast non-invasive biodosimetric device based on urine, saliva or sweat. In addition, this Consortium features an extensive radiological teaching program, both in person, and with an innovative E-seminars approach, and a large Pilot Research Program, featuring a novel two-phase review procedure.