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Anna Subiel, Principal Scientist at NPL, is one of the winners of the UKRI (UK research and Innovation) Future Leaders Fellowship round 8 awards and will receive funding to support ongoing NPL research in FLASH radiotherapy.
Each year approximately 380,000 patients are diagnosed with cancer in the UK. About half of these patients are treated with radiotherapy (RT) in which a high, lethal dose of ionising radiation is delivered to the tumour. Moreover, a dose that is unavoidably delivered to healthy tissue may lead to unwanted side effects and damage to critical organs. FLASH radiotherapy (i.e. radiotherapy at ultra-high dose rates (UHDR) larger than 40 Gy/s) is an area of world-wide interest because investigations demonstrated its capability to spare normal tissue (the so-called FLASH effect), while still suppressing tumour growth. This offers the opportunity to improve radiotherapy by reducing adverse side effects in treated patients while achieving equivalent impact on tumour treatment. FLASH RT represents a paradigm shift in modern radiotherapy with significant benefits for cancer patients and healthcare providers. However, the complexity of this new technology and the limited understanding of the underpinning radiobiological mechanisms hamper clinical exploitation.
Future Leaders Fellowships support talented people in universities, businesses, and other research and innovation environments with the aim to develop the next wave of world-class research and innovation leaders in academia and business.
Anna Subiel, Principal Scientist, said: “I am delighted and honoured to become the recipient of the prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. I am very excited to be given the opportunity to advance the metrology for a new form of radiotherapy (known as FLASH RT) and enable faster translation of this therapeutic method to clinical practice. This award will play an instrumental role in the realisation of this work and (in long term) will support the improvement the patients' outcomes undergoing cancer treatment.”
Find out more about Anna Subiel
Find out more about FLASH RT
18 Jul 2024