Outstanding achievements: Three young researchers receive Christoph Schmelzer Prize
04.12.2024 |
Three young researchers have be honored with the Christoph Schmelzer Prize this year: Dr Katrin Beatrix Schnürle from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Dr Yuri Simeonov from the Philipps University of Marburg receive the award in recognition of their dissertations, Annika Schlechter from the University of Heidelberg for her Master's thesis. The prize is awarded annually by the Association for the Promotion of Tumor Therapy with Heavy Ions in recognition of outstanding master's and doctoral theses in the field of tumor therapy with ion beams. The researchers received the award at a ceremony on the GSI/FAIR campus in Darmstadt.
The welcoming address was given by Professor Thomas Nilsson, the new Scientific Managing Director of GSI and FAIR. Dr. Hartmut Eickhoff, chair of the board of the association, welcomed the participants. Professor Sebastian Adeberg from the University Hospital Gießen and Marburg gave the keynote speech. He reported on “Clinical evidence in particle therapy – results of ion beam therapy on patients”.
Dr. Katrin Beatrix Schnürle was awarded the prize for her dissertation entitled “Integration Mode Proton Imaging with a CMOS Detector for a Small Animal Irradiation Platform”; she optimized detector systems for imaging with proton beams and developed corresponding analysis methods. Her developments allow the preclinical application of proton radiography with high measurement accuracy of water-equivalent layer thicknesses and high spatial resolution.
Dr. Yuri Simeonov has developed and characterized range modulators for his doctoral thesis on “Development, manufacturing and validation of patientspecific 3D range-modulators for the very fast irradiation of moving tumours in particle therapy”. These allow a considerable reduction in radiation time and enable, for example, improvements in the radiation of moving tumors or the use of so-called FLASH therapy, i.e. irradiation with ultra-high dose rates.
Annika Schlechter is being honored for her master’s thesis entitled “2.5D Imaging: Accessing 3D Information of a 2D Ion-beam Radiograph”. She demonstrated experimentally for the first time that additional information regarding the third dimension, i.e. the depth of structures in patients, can be obtained from two-dimensional ion beam radiographs with clinically relevant accuracy.
The prize money for the dissertations is 1500 Euro each, for master's theses 750 euros. The award is named after Professor Christoph Schmelzer, co-founder and first Scientific Managing Director of GSI. The promotion of young scientists in the field of tumor therapy with ion beams has meanwhile been continuing for many years, and the award was presented for the 26th time. The topics of the award-winning theses are of fundamental importance for the further development of ion beam therapy and often find their way into clinical application. (BP)
Weiterführende Informationen
Association for the Promotion of Tumor Therapy with Heavy Ions
