CENTER FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT MINIMALLY-INVASIVE DOSIMETRY

我们的总体主题是高通量微创辐射生物剂量测定的产品开发。在一次大规模的辐射事件发生后，很有必要在几天内评估数万人受到的辐射剂量。相比之下，目前的“高通量”生物剂量测定法每天最多只能评估几百人。我们将开发实用的微创设备来满足这一需求，每天能够评估数万人。该联盟代表了辐射生物学家、辐射物理学家、辐射化学家、机械工程师、软件工程师、产品开发专家、该领域的商业公司和最终用户之间的多学科平衡。我们认为具有高通量生物剂量测定最高潜力的三个领域是细胞遗传学、功能基因组学和代谢组学；每个领域都有自己的项目，由生物信息学核心、功能基因组学核心、制造核心以及至关重要的产品开发核心提供支持。这三个项目在总体主题、对核心资源的使用以及共同使用相同的人体样本来源（接受全身照射的患者的血液/尿液/颊细胞）方面都有联系：

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.