The effects of radiation on human health have been attributed to mutations that result from mis-repair of damaged cellular DNA. Some of these mutations can indeed contribute to cancer development; a fact that has for decades, formed the basis of radiation protection; ranging from mechanism to risk assessment. There are however, other radiation effects that have been virtually ignored. As a case in point, little attention was given to the association of non-cancer diseases with exposure to radiation, even though this link was observed earlier than that between radiation and cancer. However, many of the non-cancer diseases associated with radiation are not primarily driven by mutations. Instead, they are diseases that are prevalent in old age. Hence their emergence could not be easily reconciled with the standard model described above. In the last few years, new and exciting understanding of numerous effects of radiation beyond that of mutation induction have come to fore. This is beginning to lift the veil on our understanding of aspects of radiation that are inconsistent with, and cannot be explained by the standard model of radiation-induced mutation. Even more importantly, these investigations have begun to reveal that perturbations to mechanisms of ageing underlie many, if not most, external factors that affect human health. This realisation ushers in the exciting prospect of shifting our perspective from addressing health issues in isolation to one which is unified, holistic and coherent; based on new and solid understanding of human development and ageing.
Ken is a senior scientific group leader at Public Health England where he is head of Cellular Biology group in the Radiation Effects department. After graduating in Biochemistry in the University of Malaya in, he carried out his PhD research in cancer virology at Cambridge University. He then moved to the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research where he conducted post-doctoral research into tumour viruses and cellular response to DNA damage. In 2003, he moved back to England to head a research group at the Medical Research Council based at the National Institute for Medical Research where his group investigated replication of tumour viruses, the mechanism of action of anti-tumour viruses and cellular DNA damage response. He then joined Public Health England to further his investigation into cellular DNA damage response. In recent years he has expanded his laboratory's interest to include research into the mechanisms of human ageing, with particular attention to epigenetic ageing.