Solar Radiation and Vitamin D in Humans

Project goals:

1. To get reliable data for the Vitamin D status in all seasons of the year of people of different ages and occupations at different altitudes in Tibet.

2. To determine the contents of Vitamin D in Tibetan food.

3. To see whether a high Vitamin D status correlates with a decreased risk of certain types of diseases, such as cancer, diabetes etc.

Skin Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Tibet

Project goals:

1. Assist Tibetans in establishing a data bank for skin cancer in Tibet.
2. Educate Tibetans, from childhood to old age, about the effects of solar UV radiation on the human body, including how to ensure correct exposure of their skin to solar radiation and how to avoid exposure patterns with high risk of skin cancer.
3. Use an Optical Transfer Diagnosis instrument for non-invasive diagnosis of skin cancer in Tibet.
4. Launch Photodynamic therapy for treatment of skin cancer in Tibet.

Photodynamic Therapy in combination with Vitamin D and/or Folic Acid.
An educational and training project for Tibetan researchers

Project goal:

The main goal of this project is to educate and to teach Tibetan researchers methods and techniques of basic research in the fields of Photodynamic therapy and photobiology of vitamin D and folic acid. After training in our laboratory, they should be able to establish a laboratory in Tibet, or at least, improve the experimental laboratory already started.