OHER Mission 



The Office of Health and Environmental Research (OHER) has research and 

 development responsibilities that are mandated by 1946 and 1954 legislative 

 acts (see "Enabling Legislation" on p. 10). some of which have been carried 

 forward from DOE's predecessor agencies, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and 

 the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). The first national 

 support for genetics research was provided by AEC: further responsibilities were 

 authorized in 1974 and 1977. Although the initial focus was on radiation effects, the 

 objectives were later broadened to include the health consequences of all energy 

 technologies and their by-products. Long-range goals are to address applications of the 

 resources and technologies developed in the genome program to the Department's 

 interests in genetic damage from exposures to ionizing radiation and chemicals. An 

 extensive program of OHER-sponsored research on genome structure, maintenance, 

 damage, and repair continues at the national laboratories and universities. 



A major concern today is human exposure to background environmental factors and 

 how the body responds to such factors. In the environment there are unavoidable 

 genome-damaging agents from which we are at risk. Among them are natural radiation 

 sources, which include components of sunlight, cosmic rays from space, and the radon 

 released from the Earth. There are both inorganic and organic chemicals that can cause 

 DNA damage. Some of these chemicals are natural to the environment, while others are 

 generated by human commerce and energy-related processes. 



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Physical Mapping 



Diagram of human chromosome 16 showing the 

 G-banding (Giemsa-stalning) pattern. On the left of the 

 figure are the points at which chromosome breaks have 

 been defined. A correlation has been found between the 

 occurrence of these breaks and other chromosome 

 anomalies, such as translocations, deletions, or fragile sites 

 (the latter designated by prefix FRA). Mouse/human somatic 

 hybrids (designated by prefix CY) have been constructed by 

 transferring a portion of chromosome 1 6 to a mouse cell line. 

 On the right of the figure are names of cloned DNA 

 fragments (probes) from human chromosome 16. The 

 fragments have been mapped to the defined regions of this 

 chromosome by Southern blot analysis of DNA from the 

 somatic cell hybrids and by in situ hybridization. The DNA 

 probes are either anonymous cloned fragments of DNA or 

 cloned genes. (Figure provided by Grant Sutherland, North 

 Adelaid Children's Hospital, Australia.) 



