MSc in Radiation Biology

One of the main research interests includes investigating how and why ionising radiation initiates a diverse range of biological responses. We are also interested in how this correlates to differences in the temporal and spatial pattern of energy deposition events on the scale of DNA, cells and tissues associated with different radiation qualities of ionizing radiation. Mechanisms are thus formulated which are interpreted in the context of risk associated with exposure or which can potentially be exploited in radiotherapy.

Mark Hill has been Head of the Radiation Biophysics Core at the Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology within the Department of Oncology since 2008, following the move of his research group from the MRC Radiation and Genome Stability Unit.

Mark has over 30 years of experience in the field of radiation biology and physics with 90 plus related peer-reviewed publications, building on an MSc in Radiation Physics at St Bart’s Medical College and related PhD at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, prior to moving to the MRC Unit in 1994.  The main focus of the work over this period relates to understanding the mechanisms behind initial DNA damage and subsequent biological response in the context of radiation track structure and ultimately the associated human health implications.  Following the move to the University of Oxford his interests have expanded to include, not only in vivo and preclinical experiments, but also clinically related research.

Mark is Course Director of the MSc in Radiation Biology in the Department of Oncology. In addition to teaching on this course, he is a specialist radiobiology examiner on the First FRCR examination board for the Royal College of Radiologists and lectures on the Annual Radiological Protection Summer School held at the University of Cambridge.  He has also been involved with a number of national and international committees including being a member of the International Agency for Research of Cancer (IARC) working group preparing the monograph on ionising radiation and cancer, a member of the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) working group on the dosimetry of low-dose exposures of ionsing radiation and a member of the Tritium Subgroup of the UK Advisory Group on Ionizing Radiation (AGIR). Mark has recently been made a Fellow of the Society for Radiological Protection and a member of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) providing independent advice to all UK government departments and agencies.

Mark is also a member of the ESTRO ACROP task group on Technology for Precision Small Animal Radiotherapy Research and has recently been appointed as a member of the NCRI Clinical and Translational Radiotherapy Working Group (CTRad) for Workstream 1 (Science Base).