About the Speakers
Sally A. Amundson, Ph.D.
Center for Radiological Research
Columbia University Medical Center
New York, New York
saa2108@columbia.edu
Dr. Amundson received a B.A. from Hamline University, and a Sc.D. in radiation biology from Harvard. She presently is an associate professor of radiation oncology at the Center for Radiological Research, Columbia University, and an adjunct investigator for the National Institutes of Health. Her research interests include functional genomics of responses to ionizing radiation and other stressors, signal transduction in DNA-damage and stress responses, biological responses to low doses of ionizing radiation, and molecular responses to high linear energy transfer radiation. She is a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection.
William F. Blakely, Ph.D.
AFRRI, Senior Scientist and Scientific
Advisory Board Member/Biological Dosimetry
Phone: (301) 295-0484
Fax: (301) 295-1863
blakely@afrri.usuhs.mil
Dr. Blakely received his Ph.D. in 1980 at the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign in radiation biology; his doctoral advisor was Dr. Howard S. Ducoff. He completed his postdoctorate study on DNA radiation chemistry in Dr. John F. Ward's laboratory at the University of California, San Diego. In 1983 he joined the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, his present affiliation. Dr. Blakely's research activities have focused on molecular mechanisms of radiation sensitivity, cell cycle effects, DNA damage and repair, and biological dosimetry. He presently
is the Biodosimetry Research Group Advisor for his Institute,
which is a component of Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He also serves as a U.S. representative on the ISO TC85/SC2 (Radiation Protection) Working Group 18 (Performance Criteria for Service Laboratories Performing Biological Dosimetry by Cytogenetics), Chair of a NATO Research Study Group - Radiation Bioeffects and Countermeasures (RTG-099), and on Council for the National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements (NCRP).
Additional information can be obtained on-line at his website
http://myprofile.cos.com/wfblakely
Francis A. Cucinotta, Ph.D.
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas
Francis.a.cucinotta@nasa.gov
Dr. Cucinotta is Chief Scientist, NASA Space Radiation Program Element (SRPE) that is a multi-center project and part of the Human Research Program at the NASA Johnson Space Center. SRPE performs investigations to ensure that the crews can safely live and work in the space radiation environment without exceeding the permissible exposure limits.
Nicholas Dainiak, M.D.
Yale University School of Medicine &
Bridgeport Hospital
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Phone: (203) 384-3470
pndain@bpthosp.org
Dr. Dainiak is Chairman of Medicine and Clinical Professor of Medicine
at Bridgeport Hospital in Connecticut and Yale University School of Medicine. He founded and currently chairs the Connecticut Radiation Response Planning Group. He is a Member of both the State of Connecticut Public Health Preparedness Advisory Committee to the Commissioner of Health and the Strategic National Stockpile Radiation Working Group. In addition, he consults with the Nuclear Fission Safety Program at the European Atomic Energy Commission, USDHHS Radiological/Nuclear Medical Response, Office of Emergency Preparedness - Yale New Haven Health System, and the World Health Organization. He is a member of numerous professional societies, including the Belarus National Academy of Sciences, and has published 7 books in addition to numerous research papers on radiation response, articles and book chapters.
Julie A. Leary, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chemistry
University of California, Davis
jaleary@ucdavis.edu
Dr. Julie A. Leary is Professor Molecular and Cellular Biology and Chemistry at UC Davis. She also holds the position of Director for the Campus Mass Spectrometry Satellite Laboratories. Her research efforts focus on the use of mass spectrometry as an important tool in chemical biology. She is articularly interested in developing new analytical methods for analyzing proteins, proteoglycans and protein-ligand complexes using mass spectrometry. After receiving her Ph.D. from MIT in 1985, under the mentorship of Prof. Klaus Biemann, Julie moved to U.C. Berkeley. In 2000, she won the prestigious international award, The Biemann Medal, for her pioneering work on metal-coordinated oligosaccharides and their stereochemical differentiation using mass spectrometry and in 2004 she took her current position at UC Davis. She is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, Glycobiology, and the International Journal of Mass Spectrometry. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center in Georgia.
William F. Morgan, Ph.D.
Director, Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory
University of Maryland,
Baltimore, Maryland
Phone: (410) 706-2475
WFMorgan@som.umaryland.edu
Dr. William F. Morgan holds Ph.D and Sc.D degrees from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is currently a Professor and Director of the Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. Dr. Morgan has funding from the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration, and the National Institute of Health, to investigate the long-term effects of exposure to ionizing radiation. He is a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection, the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP), and he is a consultant to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).
Terry C. Pellmar, Ph.D.
Scientific Director
Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute
PELLMAR@afrri.usuhs.mil
Dr. Pellmar is Professor and Chair of the Radiation Biology Department at the Uniformed Services University. In addition, she is Scientific Director at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute at the
Uniformed Services University where she oversees the institute's research program on development of radiation countermeasures and
biodosimetric assessment. Dr. Pellmar has extensive research experience in radiation biology, depleted uranium toxicity, free radical effects in neural systems, medical countermeasures for radiological/nuclear threats, and behavioral health policy. She has recently established a Doctoral Program in Radiation Biology at the Uniformed Services University. Currently she is serving on the Radiological/Nuclear Threat Countermeasures Working Group (a US government advisory panel); NATO Research Task Group 099 (co-chairing Subpanel 4: Combined Injuries and Treatment); the CANUKUS Radiation Medicine Subgroup of the Medical Countermeasures Coordinating Team; Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal of Medical Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defense; and external advisory panels for a number of academic research programs.
Viktor Stolc, Ph.D.
Director, NASA Ames Genome Research Facility
Radiation & Space Biotechnologies Branch
Space Biosciences Division
NASA Ames Research Center
Phone: (650) 604-0018
vstolc@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Dr. Stolc earned a Ph.D. degree from Yale University School of Medicine, the department of Cell Biology, for his work in biochemical and genetic identification and characterization of protein subunits of a ribozyme called RNAse P, in human cells and in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
He earned his post-doctoral certificate for his internationally patented work in Direct Multiplex Genotyping on Genomic DNA and functional genomics at Stanford University. Dr. Stolc is a Principal Investigator in the development of a solid-state nanopore reader for direct physical sequencing of genomes at the single molecule level. Dr. Stolc is also a Principal Investigator in the development of high-density oligonuclotide microarrays for fundamental biology and clinical applications. He is a director of the NASA Ames Genome Research Facility http://phenomorph.arc.nasa.gov.
Tore Straume, Ph.D.
Chief, Radiation & Space Biotechnologies Branch and
Chief Division Scientist
Space Biosciences Division
NASA Ames Research Center
Phone: (650) 604-3943
tstraume@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Dr. Straume is Chief, Radiation & Space Biotechnologies Branch and Chief Division Scientist in the Space Biosciences Division at the NASA Ames Research Center. He has worked for more than 30 years in research and development in the radiation field, with particular expertise in radiation dosimetry (both biological and physical), radiation biology, and related science. Among his many achievements are co-development of the fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) technology, pioneering work in radiation biodosimetry, work in reproductive biology and oocyte genetics, reconstruction of radioiodine deposition in the country of Belarus following the Chernobyl accident, and leader of an international effort to resolved a large discrepancy in the neutron component of the dose to survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which serve as the world's (and NASA's) primary basis for estimating radiation-induced cancer risk in humans. Dr. Straume has over 130 publications and is inventor or co-inventor of 6 patents in the biotechnology field
Kenneth W. Turteltaub, Ph.D.
Head, Biodefense Division
Biosciences Directorate
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Turteltaub2@llnl.gov
Dr. Turteltaub is member of the Senior Staff of the Biology and Biotechnology Division of the Chemistry, Materials and Life Sciences Directorate which focuses on developing the science and technology to counter biological, chemical and radiological terrorist threats. His research is concerned with understanding the molecular basis of disease, development of biomarkers for use in disease diagnostics, the development of accelerator mass spectrometry for ultra trace analysis of biomolecules and the effects of toxicants at low doses. He has published over 95 peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters and reviews on accelerator mass spectrometry, the pharmacokinetics of toxicants and drugs, the interaction of toxicants with biomolecules in humans and model systems, on interspecies differences in metabolism of toxicants, and on the development/validation of biomarkers. He holds Appointments in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, Internal Medicine, UC-Davis and is a member of the Graduate Group in Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Environmental Toxicology, UC Davis. He serves on a number of advisory boards and working groups dealing with toxicology/pharmacology and biosecurity.
Andrew T. Vaughan, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. of Radiation Oncology
Advisory Board UCD Medical Center
Phone: (916) 734-5810
Fax: (301) 295-1863
andrew.vaughan@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
Dr. Vaughan is a Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of California, Davis Cancer Center and Associate Chief of Staff for Research for the Northern California VA. His basic research interests are focused on the mechanism(s) whereby both solid tumors and leukemias are formed. He has proposed that the process through which cells normally die, called apoptosis, may be subverted and proactively trigger genomic instability within cells at risk. Translational research projects are centered on the use of biological monitoring of Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) using both gene transcripts and proteomic profiles - particularly after hypofractionation.
Dr. Srinivasan Vijayakumar, M.D.
Chair, Dept. of Radiation Oncology
UCD Medical Center
vijay@ucdavis.edu
Dr. Vijayakumar is currently Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. He specializes in the treatment of prostate cancer, lymphomas and soft-tissue sarcomas. His broad research interests include clinical trials. His focused research interests are in 3D conformal radiation therapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and chemoprevention. Vijayakumar has authored over 130 publications, including book chapters, articles and editorials. He serves on the editorial advisory committee for the Journal of Oncology Management and has been a reviewer for many publications, including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Research, International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology Physics, Radiotherapy and Oncology Investigations, and Cancer Journal from Scientific American.
Andrew J. Wyrobek, Ph.D.
Life Sciences Division
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Phone: (510) 486-7375
AJWyrobek@lbl.gov
Dr. Wyrobek is a Head of the Department of Radiation Biosciences and Senior Staff Scientist in the Life Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where his research interests focus on the molecular mechanisms and cellular consequences of low-dose exposure to ionizing radiation and genetic susceptibility for radiation induced cancers. He is widely published in male reproductive and heritable effects. He is currently President-elect of the Environmental Mutagen Society and a Member of the National Council for Radiation Protection and Measurement.
