ERA-PRO: Promotion and Update of the European Radiobiological Archives (ERA)
1. Background to the project
The assessment of radiation risks is based on epidemiological studies of radiation-exposed populations, in conjunction with experimental animal studies, and on fundamental information from biophysical, molecular biological and cellular studies. The retrospective analysis of earlier epidemiological and animal studies using information from the latter will be an important resource for modelling and evaluating risk parameters.
With great foresight the EU and EULEP have created a database collecting and collating data from almost all of the available animal radiation biology studies carried out in Europe, the US and Japan between 1960 and 1998, plus those of two human cohort studies. This database is called the International Radiobiology Archives (IRA), whereas the European Radiobiological Archives (ERA) covers those studies which were carried out in Europe. The database contains information on individual and grouped animals of the following species: dog, livestock, monkey, mouse, rat, other rodents. More than that, it also includes information from human cohort studies, namely the Spiess series and the German ankylosing spondylitis patients treated with Ra-224. This information is now maintained as an MS-ACCESS2000 database.
Funding for the long-term maintenance of ERA is assured from other sources. However, the important goal of the ongoing project is to maximise the exploitation of the resource by improving the quality of the data base and by making ERA accessible to the greatest number of end-users.
2. Objectives
The project will put into effect an easy-to-use database for further exploitation by the scientific community. Sustainability of such databases is a perennial problem, but the stable nature of the institutions conducting this project guarantees the maintenance of the database in the future after achieving the goals of the project. Accordingly, it is the predominant objective of the project to transfer the existing database into a sustainable form. This will allow its use not only today, but also for the next decade and more. Close collaboration with the relevant Japanese groups as well as the American National Archives is continued.
The present project aims to do the following:
- convert an existing database to an internet accessible version
- allow internet access to the data for the scientific community
- standardise pathological nomenclature and ontology used in ERA according to the one used in the existing database PATHBASE
- establish links to other comparable international databases, namely NRA and JRA as well as PATHBASE
- raise awareness of ERA in the scientific community
- map and estimate the quality of the biological material still available as well as conduct a feasibility study on storing such material.
3. Project activities
The project includes two partners from two countries, i.e. Germany and the United Kingdom. The management relies on four organisational levels:
- the Consortium, which includes representatives from the two partners, and amongst whom the responsibilities for the work packages are distributed;
- the Co-ordinator, who is in charge of the general management of the project;
- the Advisory Board, which consists of seven members from different organisations, disciplines, and countries;
- an international Pathology Panel working on nomenclature.
So far, two GO/NOGO points have been achieved. While the first was related to the quality of the data included in ERA, the second was aimed to check the feasibility of deriving a unified nomenclature for mouse pathology. Passing both test points allowed the project to continue for its whole planned duration.
In the further course of the project, two expert workshops are planned to enable the consortium to develop an interface as close as possible to the needs of future users of ERA.
4. Possible exploitation and dissemination of results
A unique on-line archive consisting of an easy-to-use database of invaluable data for further exploitation by the scientific community will be delivered.
The project will facilitate the dissemination of data collected in ERA to research groups within the European Union and outside. In that manner, the project will contribute to solve problems related to:
- the risk assessment of low doses and low dose rates
- the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of different radiation qualities
- the repair of radiation damage at low dose rates
- the genetic background for radiation sensitivity and resistance and the possibilities for extrapolation between different animal species and strains and man
- the scientific basis of biokinetic and dosimetric models.
The Project is also described in Euratom FP6 Research Projects and Training Activities which can be downloaded from here.
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