Radiation Research (HICCC)

Overview of Services

The Radiation Research Core Facility, located within and maintained by the Center for Radiological Research, provides a comprehensive irradiation service.
The facility provides the capability to expose small animals, mammalian cells in culture, microorganisms and macromolecules to gamma-rays, x-rays and 254 nm UV light.

Research goals are diverse and include such tasks as creating double strand breaks or bulky lesions in DNA, irradiating mice before injection of cells to test tumorigenicity,
creating transformed cells, preparing feeder layers for tissue culture, irradiating mice specifically in their eyes to analyze cataractogenesis, and measuring radiosensitivity
of yeast, mouse, hamster or human cells. Arrangements can also be made to  fabricate custom-designed shielding to expose animals only at specific anatomical sites.

The Facility currently has five irradiators:

• an Atomic Energy of Canada Gammacell 40 Cesium Unit with a dose rate of 0.68 Gy/min as a low dose irradiator for small animals and mammalian cells in culture;
• the X-RAD 320 Biological Irradiator is a self contained X-ray system with operating energies up to 320 keV, useful for irradiating only select regions of animals
  when coupled with custom shielding, and also mammalian cells in culture;
• a UV light box emitting 254 nm light, for microorganisms and mammalian cells in culture.
• The SARRP 200 combined X-ray/CT imaging machine.
• Precision MultiRad 350 X-ray machine for exposing small animals and mammalian cells in culture.
  
   

The operators of the facility provide users with guidance for safe and efficient sample exposure, as well as consultation related to experimental design.
Furthermore, the Facility is operated in close association with the Radiation Safety Department to insure compliance with relevant governmental regulatory agencies.

Leadership

Howard B. Lieberman, Ph.D., Director

Kevin M. Hopkins, M.S., Manager

Hong-Jian (James) Wei, Ph.D., Manager of SARRP

Location and hours of operation

Links and Resources

1. Our Website - https://www.crr.columbia.edu/

Contacts