Re: Radiation Biology

[melissa (M. Woo)]

Speaking as someone who just came from radiation biophysics /
radiobiology...

> 2.  I think radiation biology has become, strangely, something
> of a lost art.  There really is more to it than putting cell or
> tissue culture flasks under a radiotherapy beam to confirm
> how many monitor units are being delivered or to exercise
> chromosome analysis labs!

Unfortunately, I think what's happened to "classic" radiobiology is that it
simply isn't funded/respected/whatever anymore.  It's been a couple of
years since I've attended a Radiation Research meeting, but my impression
at the time was that most research in the U.S. either involved pre-clinical
studies or the application of molecular biology in radiation research.

> 4.  Since making good radiation protection decisions is
> (theoretically) based on a solid foundation (i.e., knowledge 
> of biological effects), it would seem that health physics 
> hasn't improved in technical rigor (other than the definite 
> gains in the level of detail of radiation transport codes) a 
> great deal (or at least as much as it should have) for a 
> number of years now!  

I can only speak as someone who just entered the field, but it seems to me
that the role of the health physicist has become that of a regulatory
enforcer, and, at least where I am right now, practice of health physics in
performance of one's duties is the exception, rather than the rule (which
for someone like me who wasn't trained specifically in health physics is
probably a good thing <small grin>).  Where is the time to get into the
details of radiobiology, etc.?

Well Mike, looks like today is our day to gripe, eh? :-)

-- 
Melissa Woo                       | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Health Physicist                  | Environmental Health & Safety Bldg., MC225
office phone: 1.217.244.7233      | 101 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL  61801
m-woo@uiuc.edu                    | http://www.cso.uiuc.edu/ph/www/m-woo