Biophysik

Despite remarkable advances, radiation therapy (RT) remains inefficient for some bulky tumors, radioresistant tumors, and certain pediatric tumors. Minibeam radiation therapy (MBRT) has emerged as a promising approach, reducing normal tissue toxicity while enhancing immune responses. [...]

Motion of lung tumors during radiotherapy leads to decreased accuracy of the delivered dose distribution. This is especially true for proton radiotherapy due to the finite range of the proton beam. [...]

Brain tumors are commonly treated with radiotherapy, but the efficacy of the treatment is limited by its toxicity to the normal tissue including post-irradiation contrast enhanced lesions often linked to necrosis. The poorly understood mechanisms behind such brain lesions were studied using cerebral organoids. [...]

In the context of research on simultaneous heavy ion radiotherapy and radiography, a mixed carbon/helium ion beam has been successfully established and investigated at GSI for the first time to serve fundamental experiments on this new mode of image guidance. A beam with an adjustable ratio of 12C3+/4He+ was provided by the 14.5 GHz Caprice ECR ion source for subsequent acceleration in the linear accelerator UNILAC and the synchrotron SIS18. [...]

The South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST) proposes the construction of a major joint Research Infrastructure in the region, to rebuild cooperation after the recent wars and overcome lasting consequences like technology deficits and brain drain, having at its core a facility for cancer therapy and biomedical research with heavy ions. Beams of ions like Carbon are an advanced way to irradiate tumours but more research is needed, while the higher investment costs than for other radiation treatments have so far limited the European facilities to only four. [...]