Oak Ridge Associated Universities 2006 Annual Report

HIGHLIGHT
National Radiation Emergency
Resource Established with New
Cytogenetics Biodosimetry
Laboratory
When the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) launched
the New Horizons space probe in
January 2006, REAC/TS Director Wiley
and former Director Dr. Bob Ricks
were there as part of DOE’s Advanced
Launch Support Group. Several
months prior to the launch, Wiley and
Health Physics Team Leader Steve
Sugarman had conducted medical
radiation accident preparedness training
for military and emergency personnel
at five local hospitals. New Horizons, a
1,000-pound probe, is on a three-billionmile,
one-way trek, lasting nearly 10
years, to the dwarf planet Pluto. Wiley
says the team is looking forward to
working with NASA again on the launch
of the Mars Space Lab in 2008.
With the first year of funding in place from DOE
and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC),
good progress was made throughout 2006 in reestablishing
our nation’s newest radiation emergency
resource at ORISE.
The Cytogenetics Biodosimetry Laboratory (CBL)
will become the second of only two federally funded
facilities in the nation to use cytogenetic biodosimetry
to calculate the radiation dose of individuals exposed
to ionizing radiation. This proven method is the
most accurate way to determine the absorbed dose,
information that is critical for physicians managing
patients’ radiological treatment. With the ever-present
threat of nuclear terrorism, the CBL will strengthen
the nation’s response to a radiation emergency.
The CBL was established under the direction of Dr.
Gordon Livingston, a nationally respected cytogenetics
researcher who joined ORISE as technical director
of the lab in March. Livingston quickly assembled
an international team of experts who convened in
July as the CBL Scientific Advisory Board. The board
members reviewed every detail of the construction,
equipment placement, and blood sample process for
estimating the radiation doses.
Livingston and his team are establishing test cultures
and in vitro calibration curves to quantify patients’
radiation exposure. Key to the overall process is a new
and highly sophisticated Zeiss microscope that can
automatically process as many as 80 slides overnight
unattended. Each slide, which can hold up to 1,500
dividing blood cells, takes only six minutes to process.
According to Livingston, the miscroscope’s software
can create a karyotype table, which allows researchers
to quickly identify chromosome abnormalities. The
frequency of dicentric chromosomes is then compared
to a dose response calibration curve for the type of
radiation that a patient has been exposed to, and
a radiation dose is estimated. “When we’re fully
operational, we estimate a fivefold increase in cells
processed over conventional manual methods,” he said.
ORISE will partner with Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, the CBL advisory board, and other
cytogenetic biodosimetry researchers around the world
to ensure that its new equipment is properly calibrated
and delivering the most accurate results.
Image Information:
The long involved process of manually examining cell after
cell in a microscope to look for chromosome damage has been
vastly expedited with a sophisticated new Zeiss automated
microscope and slide scanning platform now installed at
ORISE’s new Cytogenetics Biodosimetry Laboratory. As many
as 80 slides, each containing from 300 to 1,500 dividing blood
cells, can be automatically scanned and processed overnight
unattended. A single slide takes only six minutes to process.
56