Division of Radiation Health

Overall Objective
The research activities of the Division of Radiation Health seek to maximize the benefits and/or minimize the risk associated with exposure to ionizing radiation. The overall objectives of our research are 1) to make radiation therapy of cancer safer and more effective, and 2) to develop effective countermeasures to protect the general population against radiological and nuclear threats.

Making Radiation Therapy Safer and More Effective
The major goals are to improve the outcome in cancer patients by determining cellular and molecular mechanisms of radiation-induced side effects and by developing strategies that minimize short and long-term adverse effects after radiation therapy.

Our current focus is on intestinal and cardiac radiation responses:

Bone Marrow
Bone marrow suppression is the primary cause of death after exposure to a high dose of total body irradiation and a common side effect of radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy for cancer. Our research has revealed some fundamental changes in hematopoietic stem cells after exposure to radiation. We are continuously investigating the role of chronic oxidative stress in radiation-induced hematopoietic stem cell senescence and bone marrow suppression. In addition, we are actively engaged in developing new mechanism-based strategies to mitigate radiation-induced bone marrow injury.

Intestine
One line of study investigates the role of endothelial cell dysfunction in the mechanisms underlying intestinal radiation injury. Another line of study investigates how interactions between the enteric nervous system and cells of the mucosal immune system regulate the intestinal radiation response.

Radiation Countermeasures Program
The major goal of this program is to provide highly effective, non-toxic pharmaceutical countermeasures against radiological and nuclear threats. Current emphasis is on HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, somatostatin analogs, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, and cytokines.

Radiation Combined Injury (RCI)
Up to 70% of casualties in a nuclear incident sustain radiation combined injury (radiation injury combined with burns, blast injury, penetrating or blunt trauma, or shock, sepsis, or reperfusion injury).
Our expertise in basic and translational normal tissue radiation biology combined with a strong background in surgical sciences is particularly conducive to research in this area. Currently, our focus is on radiation injury combined with shock/ sepsis or cutaneous injury.  

Funding Sources
Research in the Division of Radiation Health has received support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Defense Threat Reduction Agency
(DTRA), Department of Veterans Affairs, American Cancer Society, Lance Armstrong Foundation, and the American Heart Association.

We also have active collaborations with a large number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.