How radiation affects our bodies
FAU research team investigates how age, gender and health status influence responses to radiation
An X-ray of our wisdom teeth or a CT scan for a broken ankle joint: When does radiation become dangerous? Guideline values help to assess when radiation is dangerous for humans. However, they are based on a standard reference model. In Germany, the reference model is male, mid-40s, about 1.80 meters, weighing just under 90 kilograms, of average health. Where does that leave women, the young, the old, people with pre-existing conditions? FAU researchers want to find out. The scientists led by radiation biologist Dr. Lisa Deloch from the Department of Radiation Oncology at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen want to close these knowledge gaps and investigate how age, gender and health status influence the effects and side effects of radiation on the body, especially concerning the bones and the immune system. From these results, they hope to derive better recommendations for radiation protection.
“So far, science has mainly studied the effects of radiation on the human genome,” says head of junior research group leader, Dr. Lisa Deloch, who has worked intensively on immunological effects of radiation. “But it’s also known that the immune system responds to radiation. Women can also react differently to radiation than men. There are hardly any proper explanations for this – and no specially adapted limits for radiation protection. This is especially critical because, for example, many women work in medical professions and are regularly exposed to radiation.”
In their project, FAU researchers consider different types of radiation that we come into contact with, for example, during medical treatments or in nature and that can pose a risk to us. This includes X-rays, an ionizing radiation that can be used, for example, to treat tumors. In addition, there is the alpha radiation emitted by radon, which is produced via naturally occurring uranium. All of these types of radiation are known to have anti-inflammatory effects and can positively influence bone stability in low doses, but in high doses they are more likely to promote inflammation and pose a cancer risk.
The research team is also focusing on types of radiation that increase the higher you go in the Earth’s atmosphere, particularly proton radiation. It can be used for treating tumors too. Proton radiation also occurs in space, outside the protective atmosphere of Earth, where it can be a danger to astronauts.
In their study, the team can draw on earlier research results that looked at anti-inflammatory effects of radon and X-rays. For the current project “TOGETHER”, the junior research group, which includes three doctoral candidates with scientific backgrounds and the head of the group, is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with 1.8 million euros as part of the call for proposals “Creative Young Researchers for Nuclear Safety, Radiation and Decommissioning Research”. The project is based at the Translational Radiation Biology Group (Prof. Udo Gaipl) of the Department of Radiation Oncology.
Contact:
Dr. Lisa Deloch
Phone: +49 9131 85 32311
E-mail: lisa.deloch@uk-erlangen.de