Validation of low energy scattering model in medical radiation planning
Project description
Understanding how the physical interaction of primary photons and electrons with biological media lead dose deposition is a fundamental issue in radiation therapy. Recent experiments suggest that molecular bonds dissociate at very low resonant energies far below the ionization. This finding implies the necessary development of new dosimetric tool since current available detection methods only measure ionization processes. In order to tackle this issue, I am performing both numerical and experimental studies. This research aims to improve the current treatment planning approach and to explain radiotherapy side effects such as the recurrence of secondary tumors.
My work implies experimental and theoretical developments:
1) Validation of the in house Low Energy Particle Track Simulation (combined with Geant4), in medical physics. We compared the results of Geant4-LEPTS with commercial TPS.
2) Measurement of ionization and neutral dissociation cross section which implies building the equipment which consists of an electron gun, two hemispherical analyzers, a lens tube, a collision chamber, a detector and a time of flight. Cross section is an input data to the Monte Carlo dose computation.
3) Characterization of gold nanoparticle aided radiotherapy for dose enhancement I am based in Spain at the national research center (CSIC of Madrid). I perform my tasks mainly at CSIC (70%) but also at CIEMAT (10 %) and Hospital Puerta Hierro (20%).
Short CV
Education:
2013: M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Montreal, Canada
2009: M.Sc. in Medical Physics, University Paris Descartes, France
Past research projects:
Treatment planning evaluation in radiation oncology, Mc Gill General Hospital (M. Parker) – 5 months
Ultrasound Tissue Characterization, Notre Dame Hospital (Dr. Saha) – 3 years
Dose monitoring and early detection of tumor by ultrasound