The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed its readiness to provide the first financial support for the Capacity Building through the Department of Technical Cooperation. The Call for the first three IAEA Fellows is now open.

According to the SEEIIST Concept Study ‘A Facility for Tumour Therapy and Biomedical Research in South-Eastern Europe’ published as a CERN Yellow Report (CERN-2019-002, U. Amaldi et al.) the training will mainly consist of two parts:

• Grant fellowships for young people to be sent to European laboratories to obtain education and training as scientists or engineers in various special fields; and
• Organisation of workshops, schools, seminars other related training activities for future users.

Two types of fellowships offered:  

          1. “Accelerator aspects”

Host institution: European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) – https://home.cern/

Option 1: Training in beam transport design in an accelerator for cancer therapy with ions

Learn the design and optimization of the beam transport lines connecting the different sections of the ion therapy accelerator, including the output line to the treatment rooms.

Deliverable:

Report on the “Beam optics design of the interface between the RFQ and the intermediate energy sections of an ion therapy accelerator and analysis of different options with preliminary beam optics design for the interface between an ion therapy accelerator and the patient treatment, including beam transport, beam characterization, rotational gantry, and beam delivery”.

Option 2: Training in magnet design for beam transport in the delivery system of an accelerator for cancer therapy with ions

Learn the design and optimization of a magnet system for the beam transport, including the rotational gantry, which delivers the beam to the patient in an ion therapy accelerator (synchrotron type).

Deliverable:

Report on the “Comparison of three superconducting magnet options (NbTi, CCT, HTS) for the gantry of an ion therapy accelerator, in terms of size, weight, performance, cost and required R&D and preliminary magnet design for the selected option(s), for synchrotron accelerator”.

          2.  “R&D and Scientific Aspects”

Host institution: GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt – https://www.gsi.de/en/start/news.htm

Option: Training in dedicated range modulators for fast irradiation of mobile targets

The therapy of mobile targets such as lung cancer with scanned ion beam therapy remains a significant challenge. Many of these types of cancer have a dismal prognosis, and effective radiotherapy is often limited by toxicity, so that ion beam therapy could lead to significant patient benefit.

State-of-the-art rapid prototyping technology permits to produce patient-specific 3D-range modulators. These devices enable a conformal dose delivery to the tumor with a single energy potentially enabling entire irradiations within a single synchrotron extraction of a few seconds. Treatment fields could thus be delivered in a single breath-hold. The aim of this project will be to study the potential and the limits of this technology, to identify suitable patients in simulation studies, and to experimentally validate the delivery to phantoms assuming free-breathing, gated or breath-hold conditions.

As to the outcome for the project, the system under development aims at ultrafast irradiation using scanning on 3D printed, patient custom-made, range modulators.

Deliverable:

Report on the “Construction of 3D-printed, patient customized, range shifters with the Proof-of-principle of ultrafast irradiation of a fixed target and Proof-of-principle of ultrafast irradiation with a moving wedge simulating the clinical exposure of a lung”.