Education

Research Interest

For four decades this laboratory has been evaluating physiology and pathology of the thyroid gland. Studies have included iodine deficiency and environmental contamination by radioactive isotopes. Recent clinical studies suggested that medication used to treat overactive thyroids reduced the biological response to radioiodine. Current investigations involve radiobiology of thyroid cell cultures.

Current Techniques:

• Low Background gamma radiation spectral analysis.
• Tissue culture.

Selected Publications

Publications: 2000- Present (Total publications=191)

1. L. VanMiddlesworth, J. Handl and P. Johns. Iodine-129 in thyroid glands: A sensitive biological marker of fission product exposure. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 245 (2):447-453; 2000.
2. VanMiddlesworth L,  (An invited memorial to Merril Eisenbud) Radioactive Fallout During Eisenbud's Career. Technology, 7:473-477; 2000.
3. Robbins Jacob, Dunn John T, Bouville Andre, Kravchenko Victor I, Lubin Jay, Petrenko Sergey, Sullivan Kevin M, VanMiddlesworth Lester, Wolff Jan. Iodine Nutrition and the risk from radioactive iodine: A workshop report in the Chernobyl long-term follow-up study. Thyroid 11(5):487-491; 2001.
4. Simon S, Luckyanov N, Bouville A, VanMiddlesworth L, Weinstock R. Transfer of 131I into human breast milk and recommended transfer coefficients useful for radiological dose     assessments. Health Physics 82(6):796-806; 2002.
5. VanMiddlesworth L. Iodine Nutrition in the Chernobyl Area Before and After the Accident. In: Ed. Yamashita S, Shibata Y, et al ?Chernobyl: Message for the 21st Century?. Elsevier 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, pp. 163-168; 2002.
6. Wenlin Deng, Louisa  Balazs, De-an Wang, Lester Van Middlesworth, Gabor Tigyi, Leonard R. Johnson. Lysophosphatidic acid protects and rescues intestinal epithelial cells from radiation-and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Gastroenterology 123:206-216; 2002.
7. Lester Van Middlesworth, Shawki A. Ibrahim, Charles R. Handorf, Steven L. Simon.  Natural Radium in Human Thyroid THYROID 14(9):754; 2004.
8. Steven L. Simon, Shawki A. Ibrahim, Van Middlesworth, L., R. E. Filipy, A. Bouville. Ra-226 and the thyroid gland: Maybe we know less than we thought. Health Physics July Supp 89 (1):S22, 2005.
9. Thaddeus Wilson, PhD, Quan Chen, PhD, James A. Zagzebski, PhD, Tomy Varghese, PhD, LesterVanMiddlesworth, MD, PhD, Initial Clinical Experience Imaging Scatterer Size and Strain in Thyroid Nodules.2006 J Ultrasound Med; 25(8):1021?1029, 2006
10. Wenlin Deng, Shuyu E, Ryoko Tsukahara, William J. Valentine, Gangadhar Durgam, Veersa Gududura, Louisa Balaze, Venkatraman Manickm, Marcello Arsura, Lester VanMiddlesworth, Leonard R. Johnson Abby Parrill, Duane D. Miller, Gabor Tigyi. The Lysophosphatidic acid type 2 Receptor is Required for Protection Against Radiation-Induced Intestinal Injury. Gastroenterology 132:1834-1851, 2007.
11. VanMiddlesworth L, VanMiddlesworth NR, Egerman RL, Ho Eugene, Bush AJ, Ramsey R, Delmar, LP, Wu SY.  Thyroid Function and Compound W in Maternal Hyperthyroidism Treated with Antithyroid Medication. Being considered by Journal THYROID, January 2008.