June Webinar
Proton & Proton Flash
Proton Radiation and Proton FLASH Therapy:
A Brief Overview and Latest Trends
10 June 2022, 18:00–19:30 CEST/GMT+2
More information on topics you can expect and the learning objectives can be found in the webinar programme.
Webinar Chair:
Dr. Serena Psoroulas, Switzerland
PSI – Paul Scherrer Institut
Scientific officer – Beam delivery technology
Centre for Proton Therapy
Dr. Serena Psoroulas is a particle physicist by training (PhD 2012, University of Bonn and CERN), working at the Centre for Proton Therapy of PSI since 2012. Since 2015 she has been focusing on lowering the treatment time in proton irradiations, for both moving targets and FLASH treatments. She is currently responsible for the Gantry 1 FLASH beamline, where experiments with external users (CHUV, Varian Medical Systems, EMPA) are regularly performed, and is currently PI of two projects on ultra-fast proton treatments in a clinical setting.
Meet Our Speakers:
Prof. Karen Kirkby, UK
University of Manchester and The Christie, UK
Coordinator of INSPIRE
Prof. Kirkby’s interest in Ion Beams and their applications spans over 30 years and developed from an interest in radiation damage in materials into the field of radiation damage in living cells and tissues and its application to advanced radiotherapy. In the mid 2000 she was involved in 2 projects funded by Research Councils UK aimed at developing next generation accelerators, one LIBRA used laser accelerators and the other CONFORM led to the development of an electron NS-FFAG and a design study of an FFAG based around protons. These two grants went on to provide the basis for a successful application to EPSRC for a Centre for Doctoral Training Centre in Applications of Next Generation Accelerators.
Prof. Kirkby also worked with colleagues at Surrey to develop the Ion Beam Centre at Surrey into an internationally recognized center of excellence in the applications of ion beams. She has international collaborations with the Medical Applications group at CERN and sits on their collaboration board. She also works closely with the Acoustics and Ionising radiation division at the National Physical Laboratory and Chairs the PPRIG (Proton Physics Research and Implementation Group) . She is also a member of Work Stream 4 for NCRI Clinical and Translational Radiotherapy Research (CTRad) Working Group.
Prof. Constantinos Koumenis, USA
Richard H. Chamberlain Professor of Research Oncology
University of Pennsylvania, Department: Radiation Oncology
Dr. Constantinos (Costas) Koumenis is currently the Richard Chamberlain Endowed Professor and Vice-Chair for Research, in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as the Associate Director for Translational Research of the Abramson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Koumenis received his B.S degree in Pharmacy with honors from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Houston, TX. He then trained as a postdoctoral fellow in Radiation and Tumor Biology at Stanford University. His first faculty appointment was at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and then moved to the University of Pennsylvania School in Philadelphia, as Associate Professor in 2006. For over 20 years, his scientific research interests have focused on the role of the tumor microenvironment on tumor progression, metastasis and resistance to therapy. He and his team have made seminal contributions to our understanding of the critical role for the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) and Integrated Stress Response (ISR) in tumor progression and metastasis. He also leads efforts to develop novel mouse models for radiation therapy including FLASH proton therapy. He has published over 130 manuscripts in high-impact journals and he is currently the Principal Investigator or co-PI on multiple research and training grants form the National Institutes of Health, including a multi-institutional Program Project grant (P01) on Particle FLASH radiotherapy.