The Death Knell of the LNT Model?

Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Biological Systems Science Division (BSSD)

Radiobiology: Low Dose Radiation Research

Program Description

The Low Dose Program is unique within the US

 government in supporting experimental 

radiation biology research that studies the effects of 

very low dose exposures.

Program Accomplishments

Research from DOE's Low Dose Program re-examines

existing paradigms and provides the results that support

the development of new, biological paradigms.

One example that challenges an old assumption is the 

findings that exposure to a low vs. high dose of radiation 

results in both qualitatively as well as quantitatively 

different cellular and molecular responses, thus 

demonstrating non-linear response with respect to 

dose. 

Another is the finding that in addition to high-dose 

biological damage that may lead to cancer, 

very low dose radiation exposure may participate in 

beneficial biological outcomes by stimulation of our 

natural tissue surveillance mechanisms. 

These processes are shaped by physical 

exposure parameters that include dose, dose-rate and 

dose-distribution. 

The research has underscored the importance of the 

Low Dose Program's effort to study intact-tissue 

biological response to a stressor such as radiation 

exposure, rather than studying only the initial events 

within an individual cell.