Igor Shuryak, M.D.

      Center for Radiological Research
      630 West 168th Street, VC 11-235
      New York, N.Y. 10032

      Email: is144@columbia.edu
      Tel: 212-305-2405 / Fax: 212-305-3229 

   Current Position

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Environmental Health Sciences

• Student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), Department of Environmental Health Sciences

• Fellow at the Cancer Training Program, Mailman School of Public Health

   Research Interests  

Biologically-based mechanistic mathematical modeling of:

1. Radiation-induced carcinogenesis, e.g. for the purpose of predicting second cancer risks due to radiotherapy for an existing malignancy.

2. Bystander effects.

3. Dose rate effects, e.g. the inverse dose rate effect in radon-induced lung carcinogenesis.

Compared with the more empirical/statistical approaches that are often used, biologically-based mechanistic models provide three general advantages:

First, the parameters have direct biological interpretations, potentially allowing for validation or rejection of the model.

Second, predictions of risk from exposure scenarios for which no data are yet available can be obtained with more confidence.

Third, not only a description of the data, but insight into carcinogenesis mechanisms, is provided.

   Select Publications Online  

Some papers are available online in PDF format (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, available for free download here: ).

• Brenner DJ, Shuryak I. "Prospective Second-Cancer Risk Estimation for Contemporary Radiotherapeutic Protocols", in Cancer survivorship research and education, late effects on normal tissues, eds. P. Rubin, L.S. Constine, L.B. Marks, P. Okunieff. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg. 2008.

• Shuryak I, Sachs RK, Brenner DJ. Biophysical models of radiation bystander effects: 1. Spatial effects in three-dimensional tissues. Radiat Res. 168(6):741-9, 2007. [PDF]

• Brenner DJ, Shuryak I, Russo S, Sachs RK. Reducing second breast cancers: a potential role for prophylactic mammary irradiation. J Clin Oncol. 25(31):4868-72, 2007. [PDF]

• Sachs RK, Shuryak I, Brenner D, Fakir H, Hlatky L, Hahnfeldt P. Second cancers after fractionated radiotherapy: stochastic population dynamics effects. J Theor Biol. 249(3):518-31, 2007. [PDF]

• Shuryak I, Sachs RK, Hlatky L, Little MP, Hahnfeldt P, Brenner DJ. Radiation-induced leukemia at doses relevant to radiation therapy: modeling mechanisms and estimating risks. J Natl Cancer Inst. 98(24):1794-806, 2006. [PDF]