402-0787-00L  Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Applications of Particle Physics

SemesterSpring Semester 2015
LecturersA. J. Lomax
Periodicityyearly recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish


AbstractThe most important spin-offs of particle physics, in particular medical applications together with the physical foundations are discussed.
Subjects: Synchrotron radiation, tumor treatment with particle beams, irradiation of technical products and food, medical imaging: CT, MRI, SPECT, PET and ultra-sound, large area radiography with digital detectors and accelerator driven systems.
ObjectiveThe lecture series is focused on some of the major spin-offs from particle physics research, particularly in the area of medical sciences.
Particle and accelerator physics are often best known for the large scale physics experiments performed at world famous physics laboratories like CERN or Fermilab. At these institutes, extremely high energy accelerators are used to reconstruct, amongst other things, the conditions at the very beginning of our universe. What is probably less well known is some of the perhaps even more important spin-offs that have resulted from this research.
In this lecture series, we will outline a number of applications that are directly indebted to the developments made in particle physics, in particular in the direction of medicine. After a review of the course (Lecture 1), we will begin by reviewing accelerator technology, from the first, small-scale particle accelerators of the 1920’s and 30’s, through to modern day accelerators for both large-scale physics experiments and medical applications (Lecture 2). In Lecture 3, some non-medical applications will be described, including accelerator-driven energy production and methods for the reduction of radioactive waste.
The following five lectures (4-8) will then concentrate on the production and medical applications of synchrotron radiation, a problem for high energy acceleration of charged particles, but an effect, which can be used beneficially in many areas of the bio-sciences, from protein analysis through to high resolution computer tomographic imaging for tissue analysis. It will be also addressed how particle physics research, especially in the area of detector physics, has had impact on medical imaging technology.
For the next three lectures (9-11), we will turn our attentions to therapeutic applications of accelerators, with particular emphasis on particle-based radiotherapy, including proton, heavy ion and Boron Neutron Capture Therapy. We will also touch here on some more esoteric approaches now being investigated using synchrotron radiation, namely micro-beam therapy. The course will be rounded off with a review of the biomedical applications of ion beams, such as the analytical uses of Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) for analyzing protein structures (Lecture 12) and a tour of the Synchrotron Light Source and proton therapy facility at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Lecture 13).
After completion of this course, it is hoped that the student has a thorough understanding of the importance of particle physics research in the medical (and other) fields, and can understand the close interrelationship between basic science research and it’s application to many real world areas.
Prerequisites / NoticeThe former title of this course was "Medical Spin-Offs from Particle Physics".