[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Mothersill_Seymour.jpg” caption=”Carmel Mothersill and Colin Seymour have conducted radiobiology research together for 20 years. Photo credit: Sarah Paul”]Since the dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki there have been severe effects from high doses of radiation. With lasting images and memories, many see radiation as negative, which has led many to fear it. Yet, it is often overlooked that low doses of radiation can be beneficial, such as radiotherapy for cancer patients, diagnostic radiology and nuclear power.

McMaster's Carmel Mothersill and Colin Seymour are a wife and husband research team who look at the effects of low doses of radiation on people and the environment.

Their research is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Mothersill also holds the Canada Chair of Research for Radiobiology and Seymour holds an NSERC Senior Industrial Chair for assessing environmental effects of radiation. With these positions they are able to conduct research into whether low doses of radiation are as harmful as many fear and believe.

Mothersill and Seymour have been at McMaster for just under two years but have been doing research in radiobiology together for 20 years. Mothersill worked at the Dublin Institute of Technology in radiation and environmental science, and Seymour was the director of clinical research at St. Luke's hospital in Dublin before moving to Hamilton.

Scientists initially believed that exposure to radiation damaged DNA. However, with new technology and research, those beliefs are changing. “Now you can't say that this much dose will give you so many cancers. It is more complex,” says Mothersill. “It is not a direct relationship between cause and effect now.”

Radiation creates a stress response in the body causing instability in the cells. It causes cells to shake and become unbalanced, so it doesn't just affect DNA; it affects surrounding cells.

Mothersill and Seymour have been looking at something they call the “bystander effect” with low doses of radiation.

Mothersill says, “This is when the cells respond to the radiation even though they haven't been hit with radiation.”

She gives the example of a cancer patient with a tumor and how the radiation will affect not just the tumor but the other cells, or “bystander cells”. This is why there are such severe side effects on the body from radiotherapy treatment.

Mothersill and Seymour are looking to find the messenger molecule, which spreads the systemic response – how the body is affected by the radiation. If the spread of this response can be interfered with, then the ratio of normal cells to tumor cells killed by the treatment can be improved. In finding the signal molecule, they hope there will be a possibility to decrease the side effects in radiation therapy.

Mothersill and Seymour conduct most of their research at the Juravinski Cancer Centre, located on the mountain in Hamilton. There they use the same machines cancer patients use for their radiotherapy to collect samples of low doses of radiation. A low dose of radiation is between 1 to 5 millisiverts, which is the unit of measurement for radiation. In doing this they are looking at two things, says Seymour, “How radiation works, and radiation's effects on the environment.”

Radiation exposure happens in several ways including x-rays and medical machines used in hospitals and clinics by doctors and technicians, who expose both themselves and their patients.

Flying also exposes passengers to 3 millisiverts of radiation when taking trans-Atlantic flights. This is because planes are now flying higher and closer to the sun allowing radiation exposure to be higher. There is no sign however that this has a harmful effect.

“Pilots, astronauts and flight attendants are carefully monitored,” says Mothersill. “However, nothing has been found so far to show increased signs of cancer.”

Those who work with radiation everyday, such as pilots and doctors, was a topic Mothersill and Seymour discussed at a conference on low levels of radiation held at McMaster June 25 to 28. The conference was aimed at those who use radiation at work and are concerned about themselves and their patients. The goal of the conference was to make people more aware of the effects of low radiation doses and help protect them.

One of the goals of their research is to help create a more balanced understanding of radiation: that low doses of radiation may not be harmful.

“We want to find where the protection level is for society,” says Seymour. “If you are protecting people more than they need to be protected that's additional expense, so if we are unaffected by low doses or radiation, do we really need the protection?”

Creating an impartial understanding of radiation is important because things like nuclear power could cut greenhouse emissions and create a better environment to live in.

Seymour suggests, “Nuclear power is the way to go to avoid global warming in the world, but we must prove that there will be no big effect on the environment first.” Proving that radiation should be accepted and used in low doses, however, is challenging because of preconceived misconceptions, he says.

Nuclear power could also reduce the amount of money spent on environmental clean up every year because it costs less to produce and is cleaner for the environment.

Mothersill says, “Radiation in the form of nuclear power is the cleanest form, cleaner than fossil fuels or burning coal.” She adds this could separate us from a dependence on oil and fossil fuels.

Being able to prove low doses of radiation are not harmful and are in fact beneficial are challenges Mothersill and Seymour are up for. Their research findings will not only affect our public but our private lives. From improvements in the environment to improvements in radiotherapy, Mothersill and Seymour's research will impact future health, environment and society.

(The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council SPARK (Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge) program was launched in 1999 at 10 universities across Canada. Through SPARK, students with an aptitude for communications are recruited, trained and paid to write stories based on the NSERC supported research at participating universities.)