Radiation biology
The focus will be on understanding fundamental interactions of ionizing radiation with molecules, cells, and organisms. Major topics will include metabolic response to radiation, oxidative stress and inflammatory signaling pathways in the cellular response to radiation, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms regulating radiation response, genetic susceptibility to human disease, improved strategies of radiation therapy, and identification of molecular and cellular markers for radiation response. Radiation biology research will interface with the population-based studies of radiation epidemiology and exposure/risk assessment by providing molecular and mechanistic information and biomarkers that may inform population studies at the levels of molecular approaches, population and computational genetics and systems biological approaches to study adaptive responses to radiation exposure, radiation risk assessment, and health outcomes.