Martin L. Meltz, Ph.D., professor in the radiation oncology department, received a newly funded grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and an extension of a current grant. Both grants use the techniques of genomics and proteomics to explore the changes that might occur in human cells exposed to pulses of extremely high-power electric fields.
The grants currently total $985,000 and will last until 2007.
The grants fund two projects that have been structured to support one another. The project funded by the grant extension investigates the potential biological effects of a unique electromagnetic pulse device. Dr. Meltz, investigators and research staff will investigate the protein changes occurring after exposure of cells to extremely high peak power ultra-wideband pulses. They will use techniques from proteomics, the branch of molecular biology concerning protein sets in organisms, to conduct the investigation. Exposure to pulses may be involved in cell death but while under other exposure conditions, molecular changes opposing cell death have been found to occur.
The second project compares two different types of electromagnetic field exposure. In these investigations, the emphasis is on transcriptional or ribonucleic acid (RNA) changes. These will be investigated in part by looking at specific families of genes. However, since no one can predict what RNA changes might occur, the investigators will also use the techniques of genomics and DNA microarrays to survey for unexpected RNA changes.
“Both grants are collaborating to follow an integrated scientific approach, exploring cell killing and survival, cell progression changes, cell division, and genomic and proteomic changes,” said Dr. Meltz.
Dr. Meltz is serving on the Editorial Committee of Subcommittee 4 of the International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES), which is drafting a new international standard on allowable exposures of humans to radio frequency fields. He is also organizing and chairing a session at the annual meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS), and organizing the annual Michaelson Research Conference, to be held this year in Hood River, Oregon.
Dr. Meltz is a member of the San Antonio Cancer Institute (SACI), a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center that is a partnership between the Health Science Center and the Cancer Therapy and Research Center.
