Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

"The primary focus of our lab is to investigate the mechanisms of the biological response to low dose radiation. Specifically, the long-term goal is to create a better understanding of the differences between effects of high and low dose radiation. This project will focus on the effects of low dose radiation on cataract formation. The lens of the eye is one of the most radiosensitive tissues. Though this is well known, how the eye is affected and the biological pathways that contribute to this damage are not fully understood. Specifically, there is a gap in knowledge regarding whether the radiation response differs between high and low dose exposures, and if spreading a dose out over a longer period is different than delivering the dose all at once. Recently, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) released recommendations suggesting that changes within the lens of the eye from ionizing radiation beginning at doses as low as 0.5Gy. This was based on data of people exposed to high doses, given all at once; such as atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nahasaki as well as individuals exposed from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. Exposure data from these people, and the effects on cataract formation was then extended to make predictions on how low dose radiation exposure would cause cataract formation. One problem with this suggestion is the current field of research that has found distinct differences in how high and low dose exposures contribute to effects in humans. Accordingly, this project hopes to contribute to this field of knowledge and be used in future recommendations for occupational and medical exposures. This is especially relevant considering the increasing use of radiation technology in these areas."