Grand Challenge Network+ in Proton Therapy

In the UK one in two people are diagnosed with cancer during their lifetimes and of those who survive 41% can attribute their cure to a treatment including radiotherapy. Proton beam therapy (PBT) is a radical new type of radiotherapy, capable of delivering a targeted tumour dose with minimal damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. The NHS is investing £250m in two new "state of the art" PBT centres in London and Manchester. In addition, Oxford has attracted £110m (from HEFCE and business partners) for its new Centre for Precision Cancer Medicine, incorporating PBT.
This EPSRC Network+ proposal seeks to bring the EPS community together with clinical, consumer and industrial partners and develop a national research infrastructure and roadmap in proton therapy. It capitalises on ~£300m of government investment and affords an opportunity for those not directly involved in the new proton centres to be actively involved in the national research effort in this area. This project has the backing of NCRI Clinical and Translational Radiotherapy Working Group and NHS England and will work with the national Proton Physics Research and Implementation Group of the National Physical Laboratory. It also involves industrial stakeholders, consumer groups and international partners (including PBT centres in Europe and USA and CERN).
While PBT offers patients many advantages it also presents a wealth of technical challenges and opportunities where there is an unmet research and training need. This is where there the involvement of the EPS community is vital since this challenge in Healthcare Technologies requires expertise from across the EPS spectrum and maps on to themes in ICT, Digital Economy, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing the Future, and the Physical Sciences and also finds synergies within quantum technologies. It directly maps onto the cross cutting capabilities identified in the Healthcare Technologies Grand Challenges. This is a highly multi-disciplinary area at the frontiers of physical intervention, which achieves high precision treatment with minimal invasiveness. This Network+ is particularly timely; it will afford the UK the opportunity to develop a world-leading research capability to inform the national agenda, capitalising on existing research excellence and the synergies that can be developed by bringing the clinical and EPS areas together. It will also collaborate with existing doctoral training provision to train the next generation of leaders where a national need has been identified.
This proposed Network+ will create a national infrastructure to meet a national research and training need and will allow the UK community to work together in the multi-disciplinary field of proton research. This proposed Network+ will create a sustainable national proton beam infrastructure by drawing together sites where proton beams are already available (albeit at lower energies) and providing a route for the research community to access these facilities. As the new proton centres come on line they will add to this national resource and the centres will work together to provide a virtual national infrastructure for the UK, which by the end of the Network+ will be fully sustainable. The Network+ will also provide a route for those interested in the field but not requiring proton experiments to become involved. In addition, the Network+ will offer secondments ("Discipline Hops") into the clinical environment in both the UK and in PBT centres overseas. Working with NHS England the Network+ will develop a PBT training scheme. This will link the existing NHS provision with EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training and allow equivalencies to be established and so provide a "fast track" to a skilled workforce and the next generation of leaders. The Network+ will also seek to engage with industry through joint research and secondments and with consumer groups, policy makers and the general public.

This Network+ in Proton Therapy is designed to bring the EPS community together with clinicians and medical physicists working in hospitals, the major manufacturers in the field, consumer groups (patients, carers and charities), policy makers from NHS England and national and international leaders in the field. The Network+ will establish a sustainable national infrastructure for proton therapy research and allow the whole UK academic community to benefit from access to these facilities. It will also establish Pathfinder projects with industrial or international partners to initiate new research ideas and pump-prime collaborations. The Network+ will also develop a secondment scheme through "Discipline Hops" enabling the EPS community to work closely with the clinical, industrial and international communities.
Proton therapy is an emerging field of research requiring a multi-disciplinary palette of skills and capabilities and there are still many challenges to overcome. The EPS community has the skills to work in partnership with the proton therapy community to find innovative solutions to these challenges. This opens up a whole spectrum of opportunities for innovative research involving the EPS community working in partnership with the public and private sectors both nationally and internationally.
Consumer groups will be actively involved in this Network+ and will help to inform its direction. The ultimate aim will be better treatment and better patient outcomes, achieved by bringing together a wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary community and pump-priming collaborations (through Pathfinder projects, "Discipline Hops" and travel grants).
There will also be benefits through close collaboration with industry, taking EPS research up the technology readiness levels so that it can generate income for the UK economy and society. The fact the four of the worlds major manufacturers in this field want to be involved is testament to the importance they ascribe to this Network+. It is envisaged that this research will prove to be mutually beneficial and is likely to result in industrially sponsored research, knowledge exchange, patents, licensing agreements or spin out companies.
Likewise the involvement at a very senior level of NHS England demonstrates a serious commitment and undoubtedly this Network+ will play a part in informing government research strategy.
The Network+ will produce a vibrant energised community who will actively work together and start to train the next generation to do the same. Through working with NHS England and Health Education England we will address the skills shortage in this area and look at ways to establish equivalencies between the NHS clinical scientist training and that offered by EPSRC through its CDTs. This will help to address an area where there is a national need. In terms of timescale, some impacts will be realised on a short timescale and are likely to be developed as the UK proton therapy service ramps up, through informing treatment strategies and the clinical indications list. Other impacts will take longer to achieve and are likely to result in smaller compact devices, improved real-time imaging, adaptive treatment planning and detection. Impacts involving advanced materials and innovative manufacturing may take even longer. All of these activities will form the pipeline of innovation generated by this Network+, which has a strong industrial and clinical pull.