Radiation cabinet to study the effect of Low-dose radiation on cells

Exposure to ionizing radiation comes from many sources: medical imaging, radiotherapy, nuclear fallout, and natural or background radiation. However, the biological effects of ionizing radiation can be paradoxical. In fact, the current radiation risk assessment model - the Linear No Threshold model - has been challenged by recent research that shows evidence of radiation hormesis at low-doses. To better understand the biological effects of radiation the primary aim of our research group is to study the effects of low-dose, well-characterized� radiation on various cell cultures. The biological effects of irradiations vary with radiation type, energy, total dose delivered and dose rate; however, most research in this field is focused only on the total dose, and thus most irradiators used are not well characterized. The goal of this study was to develop a spectrally and dosimetrically well-characterized X-ray irradiation cabinet to explore the relationships of these variables and their biological effects in a systematic manner. Here we report the overall design, hardware used, calibration methods, and the dose calculation methods used for this study.