New laser technology for radiotherapy, a project conducted by Prof Ken Long (Imperial), and Prof Yolanda Prezado (CNRS)

This joint PhD project between CNRS and Imperial is currently conducted by:

Prof. Kenneth Long – Imperial PI

Josie McGarrigle – Imperial PhD student

Dr. Yolanda Prezado – PI Institut Curie (CNRS)

Alfredo Fernandez Rodriguez – PhD student at the Institut Curie (CNRS)

Former member of the project:

Dr. Masilela Thongchai – Graduate PhD student at Imperial

Radiotherapy has been used to treat cancer for over 100 years and yet there is something counterintuitive about firing a high energy beam of radiation, a known cause of cancer, to treat the very thing it causes. Much cancer research to date has therefore focused on how to harness the ability of ionising radiation to damage cancerous cells, whilst minimising its impact on healthy tissue. Proton beam therapy is a newer approach to this problem. It involves accelerating a beam of protons and precisely targeting the cancer, in such a way that almost all of its energy is deposited in a small volume within a tumour causing less damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Currently only two centres in the UK offer this treatment because the facilities are expensive and require so much space. But Imperial and CNRS researchers spanning the physical and biomedical disciplines are coming together via the LAHRA project to bring the latest advances in particle physics into the realms of biomedical science.

Voices of International Collaborations, Episode 2: Elucidating the Biological Impact of Novel Radiotherapy Techniques – LhARA project (Imperial/CNRS)

Discover more about the project