Ab initio prediction of complex DNA damage yields
In plain words
Radiation sometimes breaks both strands of DNA at nearby places, which cells repair badly. Predicting how often this happens, starting from physics alone, is not yet possible.
Precise statement
Predict the yield and complexity spectrum of DNA double-strand breaks and clustered lesions per 100 rad per cell, including the indirect chemical channel, from physical track structure plus radiation chemistry and a chromatin geometry model, without fitting to the damage data being predicted. Target accuracy: 20 percent across radiation qualities from Co-60 photons to 100 keV/micron ions. An answer is a predicted yield spectrum with that accuracy.
What would settle it
Blind comparison of predictions with measured break yields and fragment-size distributions obtained by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis or equivalent.
Status in the literature
Simulation chains reproduce yields only after chromatin-model and chemistry-parameter tuning.