Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.

Friday, June 19, 2020

Bacteria Found in Nuclear Reactors Could Be the Secret to Faster, Cheaper Vaccines

Bacteria Found in Nuclear Reactors Could Be the Secret to Faster, Cheaper Vaccines: The extremophile bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans was first discovered in 1956 at Oregon State University, where it was busy ruining a gamma ray experiment designed to sterilize a tin of ground meat. The “sterilized” meat spoiled, thanks to D. radiodurans and its preternatural durability in the face of radiation: The hearty microbe can withstand somewhere up to 5,000 gray (Gy), or about 1,500 times the dose that would kill a human being.

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