Woloschak Lab Feinberg School of Medicine, Radiation Oncology

This research was originally funded by the Atomic Energy Commission until the mid 1970’s when it transitioned into the Department of Energy.  The aims of each lab were to deepen the understanding of the biological response to potential atomic exposure or environmental contamination.

The expansive amount of data produced on nearly 80K irradiated animals can help scientific labs today advance understanding from the scientific experiments, without replicating redundant testing. 

The tissue studies were conducted on rodents, primates and extensively on beagle dogs as their life span was deemed longest for studies comparable to humans.  Exposures to radiation were in the form of ingestion, intravenous injection, inhalation, and external beam exposure during the years of from 1951 through 1996. In the below radial plot, we see the each lab abbreviated on the radius, with the species breed coded by color and totaled in each lab. These studies were contracted and approved for use in the AEC funded radiation studies. 

The Life-Span effects studies [primarily beagles] conducted at five major laboratories [Utah, Davis, Argonne, PNL, ITRI] began in 1950 at the University of Utah, funded by the Atomic Energy Commission, later named the Department of Energy. As labs concluded their studies, often subjects would be traded between labs for care or conclusion of combined studies.  The Life Span Studies devoted to the radiation testing of beagle dogs spanned 1950 – 1995, and with this data, need never to be performed at this scale again.

Funding for the studies concluded with the end of the cold war in the mid 1990’s.  In the graph below, all major radiation testing sites funded by AEC are represented in chronological order, which includes sites testing on primates at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and mice at Oak Ridge National Lab. 

The data generated from the studies was built on and eventually given to the U.S. National Radiobiology Archives, operating under Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, and then U.S. Transuranium within Washington State, where Dr. Chuck Watson accumulated all the data into an archive over the years 1989-1996. The data was released  entirety to Dr. Gayle Woloschak, of Northwestern University (NU) in 2010.  At NU, these materials complemented the existing Argonne animal Janus experiments, Lovelace ITRI and University of Utah tissue data archive materials accumulated between 1996-2010. To understand more of this provenance, see the NRA U.S. Transuranium history site.

In earnest of sharing scientific data openly, we are excited to share our repository data here and online.
We have compiled the scientific data into each respective source below.

To cite this page:
Northwestern University Radiobiology Archive NURA. (2022). Data Archives. From: https://sites.northwestern.edu/nura/data/ (Accessed: 16 December 2024).

Radiobiology Subjects

Of the thousands of animals that were subjected to radiation testing, we hold data on a significant amount of them tested at the eight major labs during the four decades of government funded testing.  

You may find data through sorting the below table with bold links to the data pages. Begin by selecting the amount of rows you would like to view at a time on the top left. You may also find the search function the most useful by searching abbreviated isotope (e.g. “90”, or “Sr” will provide all 90Sr studies).   Please reach out to us for more information and data as needed. 

Radiobiology by Labs

Canines

Beagles

• ITRI = LRRI (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute) (internal beam)
• UC Davis (ingested, internal beam)
  • Cobalt, Strontium-fed/injected, radium injected.
• ANL (external beam, Co60 )
• PNNL (inhaled, Plutonium)
• University of Utah (injected)
• CSU (implant/injected, external beam Co60)

St. Bernard

• University of Utah Radiobiology Lab  (Pu injected) 

Rodents

Mice

• Davis (internal beam)
• LRRI (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute) (internal beam) 
• ANL (external beam)
• ORNL (expo gamma)

Rats

• Davis (internal beam)
• ITRI = LRRI (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute) (internal beam) 

Primates

Macaques; Rhesus Monkeys

• Davis (internal beam)
• LRRI (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute) (internal beam)
  • Inhaled ²³⁹PU02

Macaques; Cynomolgus Monkeys

• ITRI = LRRI (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute) (internal beam)
  • ITRI_92-93(ITRI-140) pg 43

Macaques: Rhesus & Cynomolgus 

• LBNL Lawrence Berkeley National Lab 1996 Report.  (Cynomolgus and rhesus)
  • Americium [²⁴¹Am citrate: 3.7-32 kBq.kg],
  • Plutonium [²³⁸Pu(IV) in 0.08 M sodium citrate, pH 3.5]
  • Strontium injected [⁹⁰Sr 444″187 kBq.kgB1(range 220 to 904 kBq.k]
  • Tissue Data injected ⁹⁰SR; ²³⁷PU; ²³⁸PU; ²⁴¹-AM: Kidneys, gall bladder, liver, spleen, heart, lung, larynx & trachea, GI tract, stomach, intestine, brain, bladder, muscle, tongue, diaphragm, salivary glands, reproductive organs 

Chimpanzees

• ITRI+LF Inhaled ²³⁹pu02 with same response as beagles

 Other Mammals

Rabbits

• Utah – injected ⁹⁰SR in new Zealand Red and Dutch rabbits.

Swine

• Utah – fed ⁹⁰SR to 74+ Pitman-Moore miniature swine
• PNL (1958-) SR⁹⁰ injected into Pitman-Moore miniature swine

Felines

• Environmental Protection Agency (oral 89SR on 44 cats)
• ANL – 90SR injection

Burros

• Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Noted unusual longevity and resistance to radiological exposures. See “Longevity of Irradiated Burros” ¹⁸²Ta, ⁶⁰Co

Sheep                

• PNL Battelle SR-90

Black Tailed  Deer

• University of California Davis (fallout Cesium-137-[1969])
  

   

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

The following important radiation  books are available free and open access in digital commons and other open access sites. 

European Radiobiology, A., et al. (1996). International radiobiology archives of long-term animal studies. [Springfield, VA], [National Technical Information Service].

Hanford Life Sciences, S., et al. (1986). Life-span radiation effects studies in animals : what can they tell us? : proceedings of the Twenty-second Hanford Life Sciences Symposium held at Richland, Washington, September 27-29, 1983. [Oak Ridge, TN], Springfield, Va., Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy ; Available from National Technical Information Service, U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

Planning, et al. (1987). Atomic power in space : a history. Washington, DC, U.S. Department of Energy, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Reactor System, Development and Technology.

Stannard, J. N., et al. (1988). Radioactivity and health : a history. [Richland, Wash.], Springfield, Va., Pacific Northwest Laboratory ; Available from National Technical Information Service.

Thompson, R. C., et al. (1989). Life-span effects of ionizing radiation in the beagle dog : a summary account of four decades of research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies. [Columbus, Ohio?], Pacific Northwest Laboratories.

United States Department of, E., et al. (1966). Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation. An Annotated Bibliography Covering the Years 1898–1957. Washington, D.C, United States. Dept. of Energy.

1. Visit the online Atomic History Archive, to see historical documents, testimonies, and media from the worlds atomic explosions. 
2. See the Nuke Map simulator to visualize how different bombs through history would affect geographic locations. 
3. USGS maps of radiation and terrestrial concentrations in US soils.
4. Aeroradiometric data for North America from USGS has an interactive map.
5. Remember Fukushima fallout maps.