Dr. Ruth Wilkins

Office Location:
Ionizing Radiation Health Sciences Division, - Consumer and Clinical Radiation Protection Bureau - Health Canada775 Brookfield Road, PL 6303B, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1C1

Research Summary

My laboratory at Health Canada is focusing on the biological effects of ionizing radiation.  The main research project is focused on biological dosimetry which is a method of measuring the amount of ionizing radiation received by an individual using biological material.  This type of dosimeter is essential when an individual is accidentally exposed and no physical dosimetry is available. Currently, the accepted method of biological dosimetry is the dicentric chromosome assay which involves examining chromosomes for characteristic damage caused by ionizing radiation. This is a very tedious and time consuming assay, requiring weeks to process a sample from one individual. For large scale radiological events where thousands of individuals might be exposed to ionizing radiation, a biological dosimeter is desirable that could analyse many samples in a timely manner. Our laboratory is currently exploring new techniques for biological dosimetry.

For a list of publications, please visit:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1N3hktkegr-5D/bibliography/public/