The 21st International L H Gray Conference
The Radiobiology / Radiation Protection Interface

Aim Overview Conference leaflet Provisional programme What the Radiation Protection Practitioner should know

Edinburgh Hotel accommodation Important dates Venue Abstract submission

Evening social activities Registration Meeting organizers Poster Further information

Aim

The aim of this conference is to bring together scientists undertaking research in radiobiology with physicists practising in radiation protection, present the current understanding of radiation risks, and explore the implications for radiation applications in medicine and in the community.

Leading experts from around the world have been invited to contribute. Sessions on radiobiology and epidemiology, lead into consideration of the accuracy and degree of confidence we can have in radiation risk assessments. The final day of the conference considers how the development in knowledge should influence medical uses of radiation, and the public health threats from use of radioactive materials by terrorist groups. The final lecture is an overview of the place of quantitative risk assessment.

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Overview

The aim of this conference is to bring together scientists undertaking research in radiobiology with those practising in radiation protection, present the current understanding of radiation risks, and explore the implications for radiation applications in medicine and in the community.

Leading experts from around the world have been invited to contribute. Sessions on radiobiology and epidemiology, lead into consideration of the accuracy and degree of confidence we can have in radiation risk assessments. The final day of the conference considers how the development in knowledge should influence medical uses of radiation, and the public health threats from use of radioactive materials by terrorist groups. The final lecture is an overview of the place of quantitative risk assessment.
 

Wednesday 4th June	Chairman's Introduction Eric Wright will provide a brief introduction to the meeting by outlining recent major advances in radiation biology and their potential relevance to radiation risk. Session 1: Radiobiology Radiation Induced DNA Damage Recognition and Response  Stephen Jackson will provide an overview of the mechanisms that have evolved to detect DNA damage associated with ionizing radiation exposure and the signalling processes involved in responding to and repairing such damage. Non-Targeted Effects of Radiation Risk Bill Morgan will review the evidence for responses occurring in cells that were not subject to energy deposition events following ionizing radiation and the potential significance of these non-targeted effects in evaluating detrimental health effects and the linear no-threshold model. Adaptive Response in Radiation Risk Ron Mitchel will discuss how low dose and dose rate exposures may induce mechanisms that protect against the detrimental effects of other events or agents including radiation and the implications for the linear no-threshold model and radiation risk assessment. Influence of Multiple Stressing Agents on Risk Carmel Mothersill will discuss the significance for evaluating radiation risk in the context of the current  "multiple stressor" challenge in environmental toxicology where chronic- or low-dose exposures to combinations of stressors that are not in themselves especially damaging but when acting in combination may have deleterious or antagonistic effects.
Thursday 5th June	Session 2: Epidemiological Studies Exposure to high natural background radiation: What can it teach us about radiation risk? Jolyon Hendry will review studies of populations inhabiting areas of the world with high background radiation and the difficulties of comparing the health status of such populations with control groups and interpreting the significance of findings for evaluating radiation risk.  Cancer and Non-Cancer Effects in Japanese Bomb Survivors Mark Little will review current understanding of the dose-response relationships for deterministic and stochastic risks associated with exposure to ionizing radiation derived from studies of the Japanese atomic bomb survivors.  Chernobyl:  What have we learnt from it? Elisabeth Cardis will provide an overview of the epidemiological studies of the health consequences of the Chernobyl accident and the difficulties and uncertainty associated with fully evaluating its radiological impact. Radiation in the Workplace Richard Wakeford will provide an overview of the epidemiological studies of occupational exposures to ionizing radiation, dose-response relationships and the linear no-threshold model and the difficulties of fully evaluating radiation-related risk produced by low dose exposures. Session 3: Uncertainties in Risk Estimation Bio-Kinetic Modelling and Risk John Harrison will provide an overview of how biokinetic models provide dose estimates for assessing risks from ingested and inhaled radionuclides, the current uncertainties and limitations of the models and the lack of appropriate information about biological variability in population groups. How Confident are we that we can Calculate Radiation Risk? Dudley Goodhead will discuss how the heterogeneity of energy deposition in tissues resulting from internal emitters contrasts with the relatively uniform irradiation of tissues from most external sources and the implications of such difference for assessing radiation risks. Conclusions from radiobiology and epidemiology Eric Wright will lead a discussion to summarise the key points emerging from the days proceedings.  Implications for Radiation Oncology Gillies McKenna will discuss the impact of recent developments in various areas of biological sciences on radiation oncology.
Friday 6th June	Session 4: Issues in Radiation Practice Medical Applications Issues in Diagnostic Medical Exposures Alex Elliott will discuss the implications for radiation risk of the increase in the use of computed tomography, especially its application in screening procedures, and current developments in nuclear medicine and other imaging technologies. Mammography - Oncogenicity at Low Doses Geoff Heyes will discuss the implications of recent radiobiological studies that have led to the proposal that the low energy X-rays as used in mammography are more mutagenic than higher energy X-rays, and consider the potential implications for breast screening programmes.. Implications of the Bystander Effect for Radiotherapy Alastair Munro will discuss the implications for radiotherapy of how our understanding of the mechanisms of mutagenesis and cell death has undergone a change from a view based on direct DNA damage to one that also encompasses intracellular and intercellular signalling pathways.  IMRT, Protons and Secondary Cancers Bleddyn Jones will discuss how technology that allows more conformal dose deposition patterns may result in large volumes of non-target tissue receiving low but non-negligible radiation doses and the potential advantages of proton therapy. Radiation Terrorism Radiation Terrorism : What have we learnt from Polonium-210? Nick Gent will discuss the implications for radiation terrorism arising from the consequences of  Alexander Litvinenko becoming the first known victim of lethal Po-210-induced acute radiation syndrome in November 2006. Radiation Terrorism: Should the radiobiology community be doing something? Norman Coleman will give an overview of the radiation biology and protection issues associated with the needs for radiological/nuclear threat countermeasures. Overview Is There a Place for Quantitative Risk Assessment? Eric Hall will provide his assessment of the relationship between radiation biology and radiation risk assessment in the context of the topics discussed during the meeting

Delegates may register for the conference on-line and pay by Visa / Mastercard or Maestro at

http://www.bir.org.uk/lhgrayregistration

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Conference leaflet

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Provisional programme

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What the Radiation Protection Practitioner should know

The field of Radiobiology has been developing rapidly during the last 5-10 years. A number of eminent radiobiologists believe that it would be more realistic to assume that there was a threshold below which there was no increased risk of cancer with low LET radiation.

Some radiobiologists involved in studies of DNA repair genes, believe that defence mechanisms in cells are switched on by exposure to low doses of radiation. A threshold could arise from such an adaptive response, which could even provide a beneficial effect from low doses of radiation (radiation hormesis). However, the situation is complex and a great deal of work will be required to gain a complete understanding, if this is possible. How far along this road are we?

Epidemiologists have analysed existing low-dose epidemiological data. Do these results support the hypothesis that there may be a dose threshold for cancer induction or the reverse?

Our current risk - dose model, which is the keystone of radiation protection with risks proportional to dose, is the most practical to apply. But it has some significant disadvantages.  It implies that no radiation dose is safe and the public takes this to mean that all radiation doses are dangerous.  Such fears can have considerable social consequences. For example, it is estimated that over ten thousand women in Europe may have chosen to have unnecessary abortions after Chernobyl based on fears, which were groundless, that they would give birth to deformed children.

Alternative models in which there is a threshold do not have the same severe practical and social implications for very low dose radiation exposure. Their adoption would simplify the implementation of radiation protection for many low dose practices, since at some very low doses there would be no associated risk, however many people were exposed.

At the present time, although the possibility of a low dose threshold cannot be ruled out, current radiation protection thinking suggests it is likely that low doses of radiation will carry some risk.

Sufficient evidence to change this viewpoint about the low dose response relationship is unlikely to come purely from epidemiological studies. Computational models are being used to perform quantitative analyses of radiobiological experiments and epidemiological data. The models are based on a multi-stage carcinogenesis process and complement the traditional statistical approaches for estimating cancer risk. The parameters within the models relate to biological functions, so that they can in principle be tested. These methods may help to untangle the complex radiation dose-effect relationship.

The LNT model and estimates of risk based upon it form the keystone of radiation protection practice, and this is likely to remain so for some time to come. But are we sure that this is correct? Removal of the keystone could bring the radiation protection edifice tumbling down. If the risks at doses less than 50 mSv are significantly lower, or if there is a threshold, below which there is no increased risk, then the radiation protection principle of ALARA (As Low As Reasonable Achievable) and the concept of collective dose may not be appropriate, and could demand a re-think of the way that radiation protection is implemented.

Radiation protection practitioners should be in touch with the developments in radiobiology, to ensure that their practices and teaching is based on as realistic an understanding as can be put together at this time. However, the two groups seldom meet and exchange ideas. The aim of this conference is to bring together those involved in radiation protection with researchers in radiobiology, epidemiology and risk estimation, in order to establish the link between the two specialties. It is the hope that this will influence the education in radiation protection for the future.

Colin Martin

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Edinburgh

A year-round programme of arts and festivals, music concerts, theatre and dance, fabulous art collections, fascinating museums and many green, leafy parks and gardens - no wonder Edinburgh is often voted the most popular UK city in which to live or to visit

Home of the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Executive and many international headquarters of banks and financial institutions, it also leads the way in law, commerce and information technology. For hundreds of years, Edinburgh's universities have fostered academic excellence in many fields, and it currently leads in research in everything from political economy and medicine to micro-engineering, life sciences and artificial intelligence.

Edinburgh city guide - things to do in Edinburgh: visitscotland.com the national booking and information centre

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Hotel Accommodation

The George Hotel, George Street  - 0.2  km from the meeting venue

The IBIS Hotel, Royal Mile - 1.3 km from the meeting venue

The Apex City Hotel, Edinburgh Grassmarket - 1.3 km from the meeting venue

Edinburgh University (en suite)-  3.3 km from the meeting venue

The accommodation can be booked via the registration web site:

http://www.bir.org.uk/lhgrayregistration

or go direct to

https://www.eventsinteractive.com/ecb/getdemo.ei?id=150065&s=_33K0V3PX7

Please note numbers are limited and are available on a first come first served basis.

Other accommodation can be booked through the Scotland national booking and information centre    http://citybreaks.visitscotland.com/city/edinburgh/default.aspx which also has information on things to do in Edinburgh.

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Important dates in the conference schedule

Registration for the Conference will open on  22nd November 2007

Delegates may register for the conference on-line and pay by Visa / Mastercard or Maestro at

http://www.bir.org.uk/lhgrayregistration

Abstracts of 200 words for posters may be submitted at any time from this date until the deadline.
 
Final Deadlines for submission of abstracts is 1st February 2008

Notification of acceptance for abstracts will be issued by  22nd February 2008

Those seeking to book for the conference after 14th March 2008 will be charged at a higher rate

It will be necessary to limit the number of registrants, and the proposed limit is 200 delegates.

Conference 4th - 6th June 2008

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Venue

Photos courtesy Royal College of Physicians

Royal College of Physicians Royal College of Physicians site

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Abstract submission

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Evening Social Activities

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Registration

http://www.bir.org.uk/lhgrayregistration

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Meeting organizers

Eric Wright, University of Dundee (Chair)
Colin Martin, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, Glasgow
Catharine West, University of Manchester
David Sutton, University of Dundee
for the L H Gray Memorial Trust and the Society for Radiological Protection

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Poster

Poster pdf 1MB

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Further information

The L H Gray Memorial Trust (registered charity no. 252928)