Radiation databases and archives – examples and comparisons

Abstract

Studies of ionizing radiation effects through the archiving of data began with standardizing medical treatments in the early 1900s shortly after the discovery of X-rays. Once the breadth of the delayed effects of ionizing radiation was recognized, the need for long-term follow up became apparent. There are now many human archives of data from nuclear disasters and accidents, occupational exposures, and medical procedures. Planned animal irradiation experiments began around the time of the Cold War and included a variety of doses, fractions, dose rates, and types of ionizing radiation. The goal of most of these studies was to supplement information coming from human data through carefully planned experimental conditions and immediate and uninterrupted data collection. This review aims to highlight major archives and databases that have shaped the field of radiation biology and provide a broad range of the types of datasets currently available. By preserving all of these data and tissue sets, radiation biologists can combine databases and conduct large-scale analyses of detailed existing data and perform new assays with cutting edge scientific approaches.

Keywords:

• Ionizing radiation
• archive
• database
• historical data

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alia Zander

Alia Zander is a Ph.D. student in the Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences at Northwestern University. She has a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Her research interests include risk assessment of ionizing radiation and statistical modeling.

Tatjana Paunesku

Dr. Tatjana Paunesku received her Ph.D. in Biology from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is currently a Research Associate Professor in Radiation Oncology at Northwestern University. Her research interests include genomic instability caused by ionizing radiation, risks associated with ionizing radiation, nanoconstructs for biomedical imaging and cancer therapy, and high-resolution X-ray fluorescence microscopy.

Gayle Woloschak

Dr. Gayle Woloschak is a professor of Radiation Oncology, Radiology, and Cell and Molecular Biology at Northwestern University. Dr. Woloschack’s laboratory at Northwestern University houses data and tissues from the majority of radiobiological experiments conducted in the U.S. between the 1950-1990s. Her laboratory’s research focuses on investigating the archives, molecular biology of radiation responses, and other general areas of radiobiology. Additionally, her nanotechnology research interests include nanoconstructs, biomedical imaging, and radiotherapy.