Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
Tom Hinton Research Transport - Aquatic Transport - Terrestrial Modeling Risk Assessment Remediation SREL Home

Development of Research Tools and Modeling

Thomas G. Hinton
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
P O Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802
(803) 725-7454 office
(803) 725-3309 fax
thinton(at)uga.edu

The most powerful research tool developed by Dr. Hinton is the Low Dose Rate Irradiation Facility. The unique facility is ideally suited to the study of chronic exposures to environmentally relevant concentrations of pollutants.

The facility was originally designed to use turtles as a model organism for studying how effects are manifest along increasing levels of biological complexity (i.e. from molecules to individuals and populations) but now we are conducting the majority of our research with Medaka fish. Several technique papers emerged from this line of research, including the development of a molecular probe (Fig. 6) that facilitates the quantification of a specific type of chromosome aberration: reciprocal translocations. The method, developed in collaboration with Dr. Joel Bedford and Brant Ulsh of Colorado State University, was the first application of Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) in an ecological setting and holds great promise as a biomarker that can couple molecular effects to population-level impacts.

 
Figure 6. Generalized method for quantifying reciprocal translocations in damaged chromosomes of animals exposed to ionizing radiation using PCR and fluorescent in situ hybridization. Photo at bottom shows a reciprocal translocation in turtle chromosomes.
 
 

Dr. Hinton has also been involved in two international modeling exercises that used globally dispersed contamination as a maker for ecological processes. The first exercise, sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Community, tested the validity of model predictions using data derived from the Chernobyl accident. The models used atmospheric concentrations of radionuclides as their starting point and then predicted the concentrations in various human food items, culminating in a prediction of human dose. The blind tests were compared to data from the Chernobyl accident. The second exercise, BIOMOVS, was funded by a consortium of European governments. Dr. Hinton was among a team of researchers examining the sources of variation among model predictions, particularly, determining the influence of modeler experience and interpretation on model results.

 

Relevant works