@article{e811cf01babe49a88f59ba3e3f465f1d,
title = "The future of radiobiology",
abstract = "Innovation and progress in radiation oncology depend on discovery and insights realized through research in radiation biology. Radiobiology research has led to fundamental scientific insights, from the discovery of stem/progenitor cells to the definition of signal transduction pathways activated by ionizing radiation that are now recognized as integral to the DNA damage response (DDR). Radiobiological discoveries are guiding clinical trials that test radiation therapy combined with inhibitors of the DDR kinases DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), ataxia telangiectasia related (ATR), and immune or cell cycle checkpoint inhibitors. To maintain scientific and clinical relevance, the field of radiation biology must overcome challenges in research workforce, training, and funding. The National Cancer Institute convened a workshop to discuss the role of radiobiology research and radiation biologists in the future scientific enterprise. Here, we review the discussions of current radiation oncology research approaches and areas of scientific focus considered important for rapid progress in radiation sciences and the continued contribution of radiobiology to radiation oncology and the broader biomedical research community.",
author = "Kirsch, {David G.} and Max Diehn and Kesarwala, {Aparna H.} and Amit Maity and Morgan, {Meredith A.} and Schwarz, {Julie K.} and Robert Bristow and Sandra Demaria and Iris Eke and Griffin, {Robert J.} and Daphne Haas-Kogan and Higgins, {Geoff S.} and Kimmelman, {Alec C.} and Kimple, {Randall J.} and Lombaert, {Isabelle M.} and Li Ma and Brian Marples and Frank Pajonk and Park, {Catherine C.} and D{\"o}rthe Schaue and Bernhard, {Eric J.}",
note = "Funding Information: Previous surveys and workshops have reported that the number of National Institutes of Health (NIH)–funded researchers within radiation oncology departments is small, which reflects a small and shrinking applicant pool (9). However, the success rate of radiobiology applications has not been substantially different from that of other oncology disciplines. To update these reports, we conducted a survey of FY2016 radiation-related federal awards using the NIH RePORTER search engine (https://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm). There were 72 304 projects reported in this fiscal year (including multiple reporting of multiproject awards), 634 of which were retrieved in our search focused on ionizing radiation studies. Review of the abstracts was done to ensure that only awards directly exploring radiation-related topics were counted. Topics with relevance to radiation (eg, DNA repair, cancer stem cell studies) that did not mention studies with ionizing radiation were not included; thus the results are a conservative estimate. Two-hundred ninety-two awards were identified, funded through the various NIH institutes and centers, primarily the NCI, as well as through the US Food and Drug Administration and Veterans Administration under a variety of grant and contract mechanisms (Table 1; Supplementary Table 1, available online). The majority of these (n = 183) focused on radiobiology, with 56 awards focused on a clinical question and 15 awards whose scope included both. Funding Information: The workshop, which is summarized in this manuscript, was supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). We acknowledge grant support from the NCI: 1R35CA197616 to DGK, R01CA188298 to MD, R01CA163895 to MAM, R01CA181745 to JKS, R01CA201246 to SD, 5R01NS091620 to DHK, and R01CA157490 to ACK. HW is supported by the American Cancer Society 123420RSG-12-224-01-DMC, and GSH is supported by a Clinician Scientist Grant C34326/ A19590. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.",
year = "2018",
month = apr,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1093/jnci/djx231",
language = "English",
volume = "110",
journal = "Journal of the National Cancer Institute",
issn = "0027-8874",
number = "4",
}