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  • Number 389  |
  • May 27, 2013

Berkeley Lab’s Antoine Snijders searches for life

Antoine Snijders

Antoine Snijders.

In his Life Sciences Division laboratory at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Antoine Snijders studies responses of cells to low-dose radiation, probing for clues that might advance our understanding of breast cancer or protect astronauts on deep space missions to Mars. On his off-hours, he often finds himself working on mysteries of a very different kind, searching for missing persons as a volunteer with the Contra Costa County Search and Rescue team.

A native of Holland, Snijders came to Berkeley Lab in 2008 after a ten-year career in cancer research at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). His lab work focuses on determining the mechanisms that might either predispose or protect an individual from low-dose radiation-induced breast cancer. He works with the Lab’s Andrew Wyrobek to develop efficient ways to use blood samples to gauge radiation exposure.

An avid hiker, Snijders took on rescue work to be with volunteers who share a deep dedication to finding missing people “This is an opportunity to do something that can really have an impact on someone’s life. It’s good if you find someone alive and well,” he says, like the time his team was first to reach a missing mushroom hunter in the Coastal Range of Northern California who had been lost for days in heavy brush and steep gullies. “We brought him back up to the rescue vehicles, and yes, he was very grateful.”

Preparation is key. Snijders holds Emergency Medical Responder certification, a level below that of EMTs who serve on ambulances. Contra Costa County Search and Rescue holds monthly team training sessions, where they conduct mock searches, and learn new skills such as overland navigation and swiftwater rescues.

While many searches end well, there is no guarantee of success. In the winter of 2011, his team recovered the bodies of two teenagers who had been swept away during a heavy rainfall in the surprisingly dangerous waters of Walnut Creek, which runs through the Bay Area town of that name. “Sometimes, all we can do is to bring closure to a family,” Snijders says. 

At home or at work, Snijders carries a small pack with enough food, supplies, and warm clothing to sustain him for a day out in the field. A call can come at any time, day or night, and some must be turned down when an experiment is running. In a year, he may be engaged in about eight searches, devoting close to 300 hours to the team. His Search and Rescue work would not be possible without the support of his wife, who has a fulltime job as a software developer at UCSF, and who makes sure the childcare connections for their three-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter are kept up when he is out in the field.

Snijders says that most of the time, “we are all ground-pounders,” yet the experience is rewarding for the mind. Thousands of miles from his home country, he is now part of a community of problem solvers, sharing the common bond of being a searcher in search of a happy ending.

Submitted by DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory