Automated Cytogenetic Biodosimetry at Population-Scale.

Authors

Peter Rogan, The University of Western OntarioFollow
Eliseos J. Mucaki, Western UniversityFollow
Ben Shirley, CytoGnomixFollow
Li Yanxin, CytoGnomix IncFollow
Ruth Wilkins, Health CanadaFollow
Farrah Norton, Canadian Nuclear LabsFollow
Olga Sevriukova, Radiation Protection Centre
Ngoc Duy Pham, Dalat Nuclear Research Centre
Edward Waller, Ontario TechFollow
Joan H.M. Knoll, Western UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-28-2021

Journal

Radiation

Volume

1

Issue

2

First Page

79

Last Page

94

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.3390/radiation1020008

Abstract

The dicentric chromosome (DC) assay accurately quantifies exposure to radiation; however, manual and semi-automated assignment of DCs has limited its use for a potential large-scale radiation incident. The Automated Dicentric Chromosome Identifier and Dose Estimator (ADCI) software automates unattended DC detection and determines radiation exposures, fulfilling IAEA criteria for triage biodosimetry. This study evaluates the throughput of high-performance ADCI (ADCI-HT) to stratify exposures of populations in 15 simulated population scale radiation exposures. ADCI-HT streamlines dose estimation using a supercomputer by optimal hierarchical scheduling of DC detection for varying numbers of samples and metaphase cell images in parallel on multiple processors. We evaluated processing times and accuracy of estimated exposures across census-defined populations. Image processing of 1744 samples on 16,384 CPUs required 1 h 11 min 23 s and radiation dose estimation based on DC frequencies required 32 sec. Processing of 40,000 samples at 10 exposures from five laboratories required 25 h and met IAEA criteria (dose estimates were within 0.5 Gy; median = 0.07). Geostatistically interpolated radiation exposure contours of simulated nuclear incidents were defined by samples exposed to clinically relevant exposure levels (1 and 2 Gy). Analysis of all exposed individuals with ADCI-HT required 0.6–7.4 days, depending on the population density of the simulation

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Citation of this paper:

Rogan PK, Mucaki EJ, Shirley BC, Li Y, Wilkins RC, Norton F, Sevriukova O, Pham N-D, Waller E, Knoll JHM. Automated Cytogenetic Biodosimetry at Population-Scale. Radiation. 2021; 1(2):79-94. doi: 10.3390/radiation1020008 (2021)