The scientific programme of the Laboratory of Radiation Biology (LRB) includes the analysis of molecular, genetic, and organismal effects of ionising radiation with different physical characteristics, radiation biophysics studies, and astrobiological research. Special attention is paid to developing new approaches to improving the biological effectiveness of radiation tumour therapy and to researching the mechanisms of radiation-induced functional brain disorders.
The Laboratory of Radiation Biology at JINR was established thanks to the efforts of Evgeny Aleksandrovich Krasavin – an outstanding Russian radiobiologist and organizer of scientific activities, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Academy’s Scientific Council on Radiobiology provides scientific and methodological support of the laboratory’s activities. Every year, the Current Problems in Radiobiology international conference, held under the auspices of the Council, brings together leading radiobiologists from around the world.
JINR’s wide range of nuclear physics facilities allows obtaining unique data in studies of the patterns and mechanisms of biological effects of ionising radiation with different physical characteristics. Thanks to the modern infrastructure and the interdisciplinary scientific programme, which includes fundamental and applied research at the facilities of all laboratories of the Institute, LRB attracts both young and experienced scientists from different countries representing international collaborations.
The topics of LRB’s international radiobiological research programme include various aspects of the effects of ionising radiation with different characteristics at the molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, and organismal levels of biological organization: the patterns and repair of radiation-induced DNA damage in normal and tumour cells of mammals and humans, as well their genetic, structural, and complex mutation mechanisms; behavioural disorders and pathomorphological changes in various brain structures, critical organs and systems of irradiated animals under normal conditions and under the action of radioprotectors.
Special attention is paid to research on the mechanisms of radiation effects on the higher integrative functions of the central nervous system and the development of neurodegenerative diseases, the assessment of radiation risks for various scenarios of human space flights and work in mixed radiation fields, the development of new methods of increasing the effectiveness of radiation and radionuclide therapy of oncological diseases.
Radiation and biophysical research is aimed at developing mathematical models and computational methods for describing radiation-induced effects at different levels of biological organization, improving radiation and precision dosimetry methods in radiobiological research at nuclear physics facilities, and developing bioinformatics methods for automated data processing in radiobiological experiments.
The laboratory is developing a new field – astrobiology, which includes research on the mechanisms of abiogenic synthesis of prebiotic compounds under the action of radiation, as well as the search for microfossils and organic compounds in meteorites using nuclear physics methods.
LRB is actively training highly qualified personnel. For several decades, the JINR-based Department of Biophysics at Dubna State University has been training radiobiologists. International scientific schools for youth on the subjects of laboratory research are held in the Institute’s Member States.
