The grant relates to research in new methods for experimental verification of the 3D distribution of radiation doses in medicine, e.g. at the new installation for proton therapy at Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby.

In contemporary radiation treatment, including proton therapy the doses that patients receive are planned and executed with a high spatial precision within a three dimensional volume, in order to hit the affected tumor with the necessary dose and at the same time limit damage to the surrounding tissue as much as possible.

Nevertheless it is still a challenge in even the most recent treatmets that the spatial distribution of radiation cannot be measured with sufficient precision in three dimensions.

The happy grantees; Peter Balling (left) and Ludvig Muren in front of the new proton-therapy machine at Aarhus University Hospital. Photo: Michael Harder/AUH.

In this interdisciplinary project medical physicists at the University Hospital and experimental physicists at IFA specializing in materials physics and optical physics collaborate in developing a new dose-sensitive material. This new material can provide an optical 3D image in high resolution of a given dose, and it can be cast or 3D printed in any geometrical shape required (e.g. in the shape of a body part). On top of this the material can potentially be reused many times.

In the project the clinical uses for the new dosimeter techniques will be demonstrated, including uses in the most recent developments like proton therapy, integrated MRI and other radiation therapy methods.

The Novo Nordisk Fonden press release is available here.