Biology
REPAIR studies the effect of very low background radiation levels on living organisms. It looks for cancer risk and DNA changes in human cells, and whole-organism development and growth in lake whitefish embryos.
Did you know?
- REPAIR is one of the deepest biological life sciences research projects in the world.
- REPAIR is testing the hypothesis that because all life on Earth evolved in the presence of natural background radiation, the absence of it could be detrimental to biological systems.
- Lake Whitefish were chosen because they remain as embryos for 100-200 days (a long time for fish). This allowed scientists to monitor very subtle changes as they developed.
Photos of Repair
The radon-free glove box built and used by the REPAIR collaboration.
Cell cultures from REPAIR.
Fluorescent cell cultures from REPAIR. The blue spots are the cells’ nuclei and the green dots within them are sites of double-stranded DNA repair.
Lake whitefish embryos used in the first phase of the REPAIR experiment.
Microscope screen showing cell cultures used in REPAIR.