Objective
The effective management of an incident involving exposure of large numbers of people to radioactive material, whether accidental or following malevolent use of radioactivity, requires a mechanism for rapid triage of exposed persons. The BOOSTER project addresses this requirement under Security Topic SEC-2009-4.3.2 – Bio-dosimetric tools to manage radiological casualties. Current biodosimetric approaches frequently involve cytogenetics. The analysis of dicentric/ ring chromosomes is the mechanism of choice for precise estimation of an individual’s exposure. Current optimisation of such analyses involves the automation of various steps in the process. However, chromosome analyses are performed on the first mitosis post-exposure and thus a significant limiting factor remains a cell culture step (2 days) that is impossible to reduce. New biodosimeters are required that may not bring the same precision as cytogenetic analysis but will permit triage in the first hours post-accident into three populations (i.e. to identify individuals that require no further intervention, those who require close follow-up and those who require hospitalisation). BOOSTER is a capability project designed to research and develop new bio-dosimetric tools in order to quickly evaluate the level of potential casualties, determine by appropriate sensors their consequences, allow an efficient triage of exposed people, integrate a useful and usable toolbox, train civil protection operators and define commercial exploitation potentialities. The BOOSTER project will use an integrated approach to deliver new bio-dosimetric tools. We propose to optimise existing tools for assessment of a radiological situation and to develop novel biodosimetric procedures for estimation of radiation exposure in cells from patients. These approaches will be combined in a prognostic toolkit that will allow effective management of exposed persons presenting at triage.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
FP7-SEC-2009-1
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Funding Scheme
CP - Collaborative project (generic)Coordinator
75015 PARIS 15
France