InterRad - Interdisciplinary Radiation Research

Transcription

1 Course topic: InterRad - Interdisciplinary Radiation Research The course will introduce students and scientists, also with non-radiation background, to various disciplines contributing to radiation research. Insights to physical, chemical, biological and epidemiological fundamentals in radiation research will be provided. Special emphasis is given to deepen the mutual understanding between different subjects and to show opportunities and advantages of interdisciplinary approaches. New emerging disciplines like molecular epidemiology (incl. biobanking), bridging biology and epidemiology or approaches integrating molecular biology and micro- and nanophysics will be introduced. Moreover, the special need for radiation research focussing on the low dose area will be addresse. Special emphasis will be given to the existing uncertainties and open questions raised by the European low dose platform MELODI. In addition to the theoretical lectures a practical introduction to physical and biological methods verifying and analysing radiation effects will be given. The participants will trace radioactivity in food products, in the body and the environment using different detection methods. The biological laboratory part will focus on some well established and approved assays to prove initial as well as persistent cellular damage and damage repair after in vitro irradiation. The participants will have the opportunity to accomplish the gamma H2AX assay, comet assay, various cytogenetic assays (chromosome aberrations, micronuclei, FISH analysis, multicolour FISH, telomere detection) and proteomics. The objective of the course is to extend the range of student research skills, to promote cross discipline collaboration and will help to pave the way for new approaches in radiation research. The course will also sensitize for special research needs, especially in the low dose area. Target group and maximum number of participants: The course is open for MSc and PhD students (biology, physics, epidemiology or similar) and for scientists who want to continue their professional education with regard to interdisciplinarity. The course is also thought to provide basic knowledge in radiation research for researchers from outside the radiation field, and thus to attract them to radiation research (e.g. immunologists, stem cell biologists, modellers, medical doctors). All 4 courses performed since 2011 were fully booked and the requests for participation are increasing (2013: 24 applicants, 20 from EU countries) The course is assigned for maximal 12 students or scientists, interested in interdisciplinary research. Course Organisation: Dr. Ulrike Kulka Dr. Ulrike Kulka is head of the Section Biological Radiation Effects, Biological Dosimetry at the Department of Radiation Protection and Health, Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) in Munich. Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) Within the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) several key research disciplines related to radiation research are addressed. There is a long tradition in close interdisciplinary 1

2 collaboration between,, Radiation Epidemiology and Medicine, emerging in joint research projects such as in molecular epidemiology, biobanking and radiation effects of different radiation qualities. Due to the mandate of the BfS, to care for radiation protection, research is focused on the low dose area. Lecturers The lectures will be given by internationally known and accepted scientists from the BfS and from other organisations (National Metrology Institute/PTB and University Göttingen). 2

3 Detailed course contents and laboratory activities: Day General Topic Content Hours (Monday) Introduction of BfS and participants Welcome and introduction to BfS: organisation and purpose Introduction of the participants; 2 (Les) I Physical basics of radioactivity and ionizing radiation: instability and decay of the atomic nuclei, origin of radionuclides, nature & characteristics of different types of radiation, interaction with matter; Radiation Epidemiology I Study design, measures of occurrence, of exposure and disease, measures of risk (Tuesday) Radiation Epidemiology II II Confounding, Selection Bias, Information Bias, Chance, Causality Physical characteristics of different types of ionizing radiation, different dose concepts (absorbed dose, equivalent dose, effective dose). Basic principles of dose calculation for different exposure situations (external and internal exposure). Group 1: Tracing radioactivity in food products (Type of radionuclides: gamma-emitting radionuclides; measurement geometry: Beaker geometry; type of detectors: High-purity germanium (HPGe) detector, NaI scintillation) Group 2: Tracing radioactivity in the environment (alpha-, beta-, gammaradiation) Group 3: Tracing radioactivity in the human body (whole body counter, lung measurement) 3

4 (Wednesday) Radiation Epidemiology III I Paper discussion: Selected radiation epidemiolocigal study Radiation effects in biological systems: damage on the molecular and cellular level; Group 3: Tracing radioactivity in food products Group 1: Tracing radioactivity in the environment Group 2: Tracing radioactivity in the human body (Thursday) III Microdosimetry: Introduction to the concepts of microdosimeters and the basics of microdosimetric tissue equivalent detectors Internal Dosimetry External and internal Dosimetry, Biokinetics using the concrete example of the uranium miners Group 3: Tracing radioactivity in food products Group 1: Tracing radioactivity in the environment Group 2: Tracing radioactivity in the human body (Friday) IV Nanodosimetry: Nanodosimetric concepts for the characterisation of track structures, Monte Carlo simulations and detection principles Non ionizing Radiation How dangerous is non ionizing radiation? What do we know from studies and research projects? Molecular Epidemiology Link between epidemiological studies and radiation research including -omics methods and biobanks; 4

5 (Saturday, ) (Sunday, ) Excursion (8h) free (tbd, depending on weather, e.g. Monitoring station at the Alps summit Zugspitze ) (Monday) : Introduction to cell survival assays and Comet assay; Introduction to laboratory safety; Group 1: Gamma H2AX assay and Comet assay (day 1) Group 2: Cytogenetic methods (day 1): 5 (Lab) (Tuesday) Radiation induced damage on tissue-, organ-, organism- and population-level; II Different type of radiation damage: stochastic / deterministic effects, targeted and non targeted effects, non-cancer effects; EUROPEAN Radiation Research Platforms Group 1: Gamma H2AX assay and Comet assay (day 2) Group 2: Cytogenetic methods (day 2): 5(Lab) (Wednesday) Practical demonstration Group 1: m-fish analysis Group 2: Proteomics Group 1: Cytogenetic methods (day 1): Group 2: Gamma H2AX assay and Comet assay (day 1) 5(Lab) 5

6 (Thursday) Statistics - Overview Overview: Which statistical tests are appropriate for different assays? Group 1: Cytogenetic methods (day 2): Group 2: Gamma H2AX assay and Comet assay (day 2) 5(Lab) Applied Statistics Applied statistics: use of generated data (Friday) Practical demonstartion: Accident preparedness Surveillance of radioactivity in the environment, success check and conclusion 3(T) TOTAL student) 78h 6

7 Laboratory facilities, (if used): Description of available facilities Physics laboratory: equipped with High-purity germanium (HPGe) detector, NaI scintillation detector for the detection of gamma-emitting radionuclides (measurement geometry: Beaker geometry); whole body counter; lung counter; detectors for alpha-, beta- and gammaradiation; Molecular biological laboratory: equipped for gamma H2AX assay, comet assay, multicolour FISH; Cytogenetic laboratory: equipped for chromosome aberration assay, FISH assay, micronuclei assay; semi- and full-automated analysis systems; dose reconstruction; Proteomics laboratory: equipped for 2D gel electrophoresis, DIGE technique; Length of the course: Overall duration: two weeks (10 days lecture/practical plus 1 day excursion) Overall duration: two weeks (10 days lecture/practical plus 1 day excursion) Number of hours: 78 h - Lessons: 34 h - Tutorship: 8 h - Laboratory: 28 h - Excursion: 8 h Date and place for the course: Date: 6 th 17 th July 2015 Place: Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, Oberschleissheim / Munich Germany Will the course offer ECTS-credits? Indicate how many credits and what procedure is required to gain course accreditation (if any). The course is integrated in HELENA. HELENA stands for Graduate School Environmental Health, the partners are HMGU, LMU (University of Munich) and TUM (Technical University Munich). HELENA gives 19 credit points for the course. Those Universities, that accept the HELENA graduate school also accept our course and give 3 ECTS points. 7