Very High Energy Electron (VHEE) Radiotherapy (RT): A potential New Paradigm in Cancer Treatment

VHEE radiotherapy (in the energy range of ~100 to 250 MeV) could offer benefits in radiotherapy treatments due to more favourable dose distributions in comparison to current photon and electron therapy and insensitivity to tissue inhomogeneities (apparent e.g. in the lung and bowel treatments). It also has the potential to be significantly cheaper than extant radiotherapies in use, such as proton radiotherapy, and could allow rapid delivery of dose - as limited mechanical motion is envisaged in a system consisting of electromagnetically steered e-beams. VHEE RT could offer extremely rapid and large dose delivery to cancerous tissue, therefore taking advantage of recently reported FLASH effect, which exhibits as increase differential response between normal and tumorous tissue. This could offer significant benefits in future radiotherapy, however lack of accurate and traceable dosimetry is hampering the rapid progress in this area.
The PhD student will focus on dosimetry of VHEE beams performing measurements at Cockcroft Institute's CLARA facility and CLEAR facility at CERN using absolute, secondary standard and relative dosimetry methods. This work will be complemented by comprehensive Monte Carlo modelling required to plan experiments, calculate required correction and conversion factors and understand physical processes involved in generation of the beam, transport and dose deposition in the phantoms and patients. Preliminary radiobiological studies are also envisaged to assess the efficacy of VHEE beam