Radiobiology
What is radiobiology?
Radiobiology is the study of the action of ionizing radiation on living organisms. It seeks to answer questions such as: How can we tell if someone or something been exposed to radiation? What happens to the organism if it has been exposed? What can be done to mitigate the effects, if any? The answers to these questions can have useful applications in the field of medicine and ecology.
Biological effects of radiation exposure can be studied at three levels – molecular, cellular and physiological. Molecular and cellular effects can be observed in minutes to days after exposure, and are useful tools to target for medical intervention after radiation exposure. Physiological effects occur over an organism’s lifetime; studying them can give a holistic understanding of biological effects.
Attribution: Figures composed from individual subunits provided in Servier Medical Art by Servier, under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
Our objectives:
Low dose radiation exposure is becoming an increasing part of daily life, through medical, industrial and commercial use of radioactive sources. Using a combination of cell, tissue and animal models as a research tool, we aim to contribute to the global discourse on the effects such exposure.
Our facilities:
Chronic low dose rate irradiator
A low dose rate Cesium-137 source is housed within a typical cell culture incubator to facilitate the irradiation of cell and organ cultures at low doses and low dose rates.
Automated detection and scoring system for cytogenetic assays
The extent of damage to genetic material after radiation exposure can be visualized through microscope imaging of chromosomal aberrations and other disturbances, which in turn can be correlated to the radiation dose received. Left: Normal cell halted during cell division, showing two normal nuclei. Right: Irradiated cell halted during cell division, showing two micronuclei alongside two normal nuclei, indicative of chromosomal fragmentation.
This setup enables the automatic scanning, detection and scoring of chromosomal aberrations to standardize and streamline the counting process.
Multiplex profiler for RNA, DNA and protein targets
This system allows for a simplified workflow for quantifying up- or down-regulated amounts of bioindicators such as RNA, which can give insight into the biological effect of radiation exposure.
Stereologer System
This setup provides meaningful quantitative descriptions of the geometry of 3D structures from measurements that are made on 2D images
FLUOVIEW FV3000 series of confocal laser scanning microscopes
This confocal microscope enables a wide range of imaging modalities, including macro-to-micro imaging, super resolution microscopy, and quantitative data analysis.
Leica CM1950 Cryostat
The cryostat is used for high quality sectioning, user safety, and efficient workflow
QuantStudio™ 3 Real-Time PCR System
The cloud-enabled, real-time PCR systems has a wide range of applications, including genotyping, Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis, drug target validation, and quantitative gene expression analysis, which require quantification of the amount of DNA in a starting sample
ZEISS Axio Zoom.V16 with ApoTome 2
Zeiss Axio Zoom. V16 Fluorescence Microscope boasts extreme brightness and high numerical aperture. Coupled to ApoTome 2 based structural-illumination insert, the system allows to view large samples, for example, the complete zebrafish in fluorescence contrast.