Accelerating health and space research

Jennifer Toes — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 14:08:37 +0000

Accelerating health and space research
by Jennifer Toes (CERN)

Participants of the Workshop on Ions for Cancer Therapy, Space Research, and Material Science, over 28-30th August 2017. (Image: Grigory Feofilov)

On the shores of the Greek island Crete, scientists from across Europe gathered from 28-30^th August 2017 in the town of Chania to discuss the many societal uses of particle accelerators.

Physicists have been using particle accelerators to investigate the nature of the universe since their creation some 90 years ago. However, outside of scientific research, accelerators are still somewhat misunderstood – despite there being around 30,000 in operation today.

Whilst particle physics is most commonly associate with accelerators, most can actually be found elsewhere through applications for medicine, security, the environment, and even cultural heritage studies.

In an effort to enhance the general awareness of accelerators, the Workshop on Ions for Cancer Therapy, Space Research and Material Science gave researchers the space to discuss the balance between fundamental research and societal applications.

Over 50 participants attended the meeting, which consisted of a broad scientific programme as well as public outreach events. Dr. Suzie Sheehy from Oxford University opened the scientific portion of the meeting with an overview of the history, current and potential uses of accelerators, with an emphasis on ion therapy.

The agenda spanned across accelerators for health, space research, industry, and materials science. The talks demonstrated specific projects, synergies and future avenues for development.

Indeed, particle accelerators have an important role to play in the medical landscape as a key source for many cancer treatments. Proton and ion beams offer an advantage over traditional X-ray radiotherapies as a more targeted and less damaging option.

Proton and ion therapies have been increasing since the late 1980s and will continue to continue to grow. This trend presents its own challenges in terms of cost, size, and sustainability. Here the experience of particle and accelerator physicists comes into play.

The Workshop also demonstrated current work and plans for projects that may help meet demand for accelerators in clinical settings, such as HERMES: a network focused on developing medical technologies with synergies between Greek universities and technical institutes.

Beyond medicine, accelerators could even aid the future of space research.

Understanding how radiation exposure may affect equipment and human biology is crucial to the success of any future space exploration. Accelerators can offer their own knowledge on radiation protection, as well as provide testing for other researchers.

In fact, the GSI facility in Darmstadt, Germany is currently conducting experiments aiming to identify the best shielding materials for deep space missions.

In one of the final sessions, researchers detailed their experiences of projects and centres dedicated to health and industrial accelerators.

Maurizio Vretenar, a researcher based at CERN and the Scientific Coordinator of the ARIES project, presented an overview of the opportunities for ion beam accelerators outside of fundamental research.

To that end, ARIES comprises a network focused on accelerator applications, such as treatment of wastewater and flue gases, as well as the production of radioisotopes for medical imaging and treatments.

During this final session, the speakers highlighted the importance of developing specialist projects and facilities combining expertise and equipment from multiple different fields. New multidisciplinary biomedical research facilities are being proposed around the world, such as the new project based at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas or the BIOLeIR study based at CERN.

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International School on Medical Accelerators

Livia Lapadatescu — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 09:40:29 +0000

International School on Medical Accelerators
by Magdalena Klimontowska (University of Liverpool)

Participants at the OMA School on Medical Accelerators (Image credit: CNAO)

Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The number of new cases is expected to rise by about 70% over the next 2 decades (WHO, Cancer Fact Sheet, February 2017).

Although significant progress has been made in the use of particle beams for cancer treatment, extensive research is still needed to maximise healthcare benefits and to assure the best possible cancer treatment for patients.

An international school took place at CNAO (Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica) in Pavia, Italy in June 2017, gathering 75 delegates from around the world, to discuss the optimization of medical accelerators. The event brought together researchers and students working at the interface between physics and life sciences. Lectures given by renowned scientists covered areas such as beam physics, radiotherapy, medical applications of accelerators and treatment processes, as well as challenges related to beam diagnostics, patient imaging and motion detection. In addition to the lectures there were also study groups, a poster session and a dedicated industry session. The school also featured a tour of the CNAO synchrotron and treatment rooms, guided by local experts, Dr. Monica Necchi and Sergio Gioia who explained the technical details of the facility and the patient treatment process.

Visit of the accelerator facilities at CNAO (Image credit: CNAO)

The event was organized by the Optimization of Medical Accelerators project (OMA). OMA is a European Training Network funded by Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and coordinated by the University of Liverpool.

Professor Carsten P. Welsch, Head of the University of Liverpool’s Department of Physics, is coordinating the OMA network. He says: ”A growing body of clinical evidence shows that there is great potential for proton and ion treatment, particularly for treatment of cancers in children and where tumours are close to vital organs. The goal now is to maximize the therapeutic efficiency while reducing as much as possible the damage to surrounding tissue. This will come through improvements in tumour imaging, beam quality and shaping and a better understanding of the dose and its impact on both, the body and the tumour.”

OMA is a unique collaboration of universities, research institutes, hadron therapy facilities and industry partners to address the challenges in treatment facility design and optimization, numerical simulations for the development of advanced treatment schemes, and in beam imaging and treatment monitoring. The network is built around 15 early stage researchers working on dedicated projects and consists of an international consortium of more than 35 partner organisations. It provides a wide training programme comprising schools, topical workshops and an international conference. Professor Welsch continues: “OMA is a major European initiative in the field of medical applications of accelerators. We offer an interdisciplinary training programme to early stage researchers and promote collaboration between accelerator scientists, oncologists and control system experts to assure the best possible cancer care for patients.”

The school in Italy created an important opportunity for young researchers to gain from the expertise of renowned scientists, and started a series of OMA training events with a School on Monte Carlo Simulations for Medical Applications coming up as the next one, in November 2017.The brand-new brochure of the OMA project was distributed to all School participants. It was launched at the industrial exhibition of IPAC’17 and is now available for download. It presents the individual backgrounds and work done by each Fellow and provides details about the project’s broad research programme, training, outreach and partner institutions.

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Accelerating health and space research

International School on Medical Accelerators