Current status, new frontiers and challenges in radiation biodosimetry using cytogenetic, transcriptomic and proteomic technologies

Biodosimetric methods for determining exposure dose in individuals following a radiation accident are important for the health management of the exposed cohort and prioritisation of high dose exposure cases to receive emergency medical treatment. This brief review provides a succinct outline of (i) the current status of standard cytogenetic methods used in radiation biodosimetry; (ii) development of high-throughput systems for current standard cytogenetic methods; (iii) emerging minimally invasive methods; (iv) the impact of nutrition and genotype on observed dose–response relationships and (v) new frontiers in biodosimetry using molecular biology techniques such as transcriptomics and proteomics.