JANUS database

JANUS is a collection of data and tissue samples from materials made at different US National Laboratories during animal studies done between 1950’s and 1990’s. The Janus experiments, carried out at Argonne National Laboratory from 1972 to 1989 and supported by grants from the US Department of Energy, investigated the effects of neutron and gamma radiation on mouse tissues primarily from B6CF1 mice.

Data and paraffin embedded tissues from thousands of mice and dogs exposed to ionizing radiation are available for research. These materials were collected over several decades of DOE funded research. Studies using these materials and information include computational research as well as use of tissues for PCRs, immunohistochemistry, X-ray fluorescence microscopy etc. All of these resources are available for collaborative research with CONCERT projects and may be of interest for several reasons: (a) archival materials include tissues from many thousands of animals exposed to low dose rates or low doses of radiation; (b) data about radiation exposures of these animals is comprehensive, including
about (age of first exposure, dose, dose rate, delivery proto-
col etc.) as well as animals (gender, species, strain, age at
first and final exposure, age at death, health status etc. ).