Physics Division

Physical dose conformation

We explore and develop radiation treatment techniques for optimum physical dose conformation to the tumor target volume. Our efforts are focused on proton radiotherapy and advanced photon treatments, as well as on their comparison.

Biological modeling

As a basis for treatment optimization we work on a variety of modeling projects including relative biological effectiveness in proton therapy, outcome models for the relationship between the dose distribution and clinical outcome, and spatial modeling of microscopic disease for gliomas.

IMXT/IMPT

Intensity modulation is crucial both in photonradiotherapy (IMXT) and in proton radiotherapy (IMPT). In particular, we develop robust optimization methods for handling uncertainty in IMPT, direct aperture optimization algorithms, VMAT plan optimization, and multi-criteria planning methods.

4D

We develop concepts and methods to consider the time component in the whole radiotherapy chain, from imaging over planning and optimization to treatment delivery.

Precision

To increase the precision of the dose application we develop new targeting techniques. To increase the accuracy of the dose prediction we perform Monte Carlo simulations. We develop in vivo range verification to enhance the precision of proton treatment delivery.

Optimization projects: opportunities for students and postdocs

Opportunities for students of operations research, math, physics, computer science who are interested in optimizing cancer therapy, especially in radiation oncology. The projects are suitable as PhD thesis projects, or as part of postdoctoral fellowships. Some may also be suitable for MS theses.

Therapy Imaging Program (TIP)

Supported by Federal Share of program income earned by MGH on C06 CA059267

(T. Bortfeld, G. El Fakhri, R. Jeraj)

TIP Mission

To achieve the best proton therapy treatment through advanced imaging.

To support NCI proton therapy clinical trials at MGH and elsewhere using imaging as a biomarker.

Physics Awards in 2016

May 15, 2016: Karen Doppke, MS was awarded Fellow of the American College of Radiology.

May 10, 2016: Thomas Bortfeld, PhD and the Physics Division are co-recipients of the prestigious bi-annual Stifterverband Science Prize 2016 for the work on multi-criteria optimization, together with colleagues from Fraunhofer ITWM.

April 4, 2016: Fazal Khan made 2nd place (out of 400) in the radmed treatment planning challenge.

April 1, 2016: Karen Doppke, MS was elected as one of the 100.

March 14, 2016: Hsiao-Ming Lu, PhD was elected as a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM)

March 5, 2016: Michael Young, MS made 2nd place (out of more than 200) in the AAPM Young Investigator Symposium at the Spring Clinical Meeting for his work "Improving Non-MCO VMAT Planning in RayStation for Prostate Treatment with An Automated Knowledge-Based Model Created Using a Database of Clinical MCO-IMRT Plans."

February 22, 2016: Petra Trnkova, PhD received the Varian "Early Career Medical Physicist Scholarship Award" for her presentation "Proton Spot Scanning Radiosurgery for Static Targets" at the Winter Institute of Medical Physics.

Physics Awards in 2015

July 24, 2015: Yang Kyun Park, PhD, Justin Phillips, PhD, Greg Sharp PhD, and Brian Winey, PhD were honored as "Editor's Pick", "Featured Article" and Cover Image for their publication "Proton dose calculation on scatter-corrected CBCT image: Feasibility study for adaptive proton therapy" in the August 2015 edition of Medical Physics.

July 13, 2015: Joost Verburg, PhD received the 3rd place Young Investigator Award 2015 from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) for his presentation "Prompt Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy for Range Verification of Clinical Proton Beams". Co-authors: J. Verburg, T. Bortfeld, J. Seco. Top 3 out of more than 300 submissions for this competition.

June 25, 2015: Thomas Bortfeld, PhD was awarded the Alfred Breit Preis of the German Society for Radiation Oncology (DEGRO). The Breit Preis is the highest award of the DEGRO and Thomas is the first physicist who received this award (undivided). Congratulations!

May 26, 2015: With Bruce Crawford, MS and the Proton Engineering Staff we had two physics honorees among The One Hundred. Congratulations on this outstanding and well deserved honor!

May 23, 2015: Jay Flanz, PhD was elected the new Chairman of the Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group (PTCOG) at the PTCOG meeting in San Diego. Congratulations on this great recognition of Jay's contributions to our field!

May 20, 2015: Joost Verburg, PhD defended his PhD thesis "Reducing Range Uncertainty in Proton Therapy" at the University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Congratulations!