Manjit Dosanjh, Senior Advisor for Medical Applications at CERN, the particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, will give a public lecture:
Ions for Cancer Therapy
Many advances in healthcare stem from particle physics: PET scanners use antimatter; diagnostic imaging use specialised detectors; while radiotherapy for cancer treatment and isotope generation for diagnosis require particle accelerators. There are about 30 linear accelerators in Ireland and one circular accelerator at the Blackrock Clinic, which generates short-lived radioactive isotopes for the whole country.
An emerging technology for treating cancer is hadron therapy in which protons and atomic nuclei are fired into the body to remove tumours. Unlike X-rays used in conventional treatment, hadron therapy has little effect on the healthy tissue surrounding the tumour. It is the preferred method for treating certain cancers in children.
This lecture is organised in association with the XIII Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum conference, which is being held in Maynooth, 1-6 August 2018.
The event is free, but tickets must be reserved in advance.
For more information, and to reserve tickets, see the Eventbrite page.