DOCTORS could soon use a DNA chip to find out in less than a day whether
people near the site of a nuclear accident have been exposed to radiation. When
accidents happen, like that at the Tokaimura nuclear plant in Japan last year,
there is no way for hospitals to quickly find out how much radiation people have
received—information that is critical in deciding what treatment they
require.
Sally Amundson and her colleagues from the National Institutes of Health near
Washington DC knew that cells activate various genes to kick-start repairs
following radiation damage and reasoned that the activity…
