GSI Biophysics achieves one of the “Top Ten Breakthroughs in Physics of the Year 2024”: New weapons in the fight against cancer
14.01.2025 |
The publication by a team of researchers from the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Surrey is one of the most important breakthroughs in the world of physics in 2024. The team's achievement is featured as one of the “2024 Top Ten Breakthroughs of the Year”, announced recently by “Physics World”, the magazine of the British Institute of Physics. It is about a novel computer model that can predict radiation damage at the cellular level, which could improve the results of radiotherapy for lung cancer patients.
In the 2024 publication, the researchers, from the GSI Biophysics department led by Professor Marco Durante and the University of Surrey, report on a novel, innovative computer model of human lung tissue that is helping scientists to simulate, for the first time, how a burst of radiation interacts with the organ on a cell-by-cell level. A crucial step that could lead to more targeted treatments for cancer and reduce the damage caused by radiotherapy. Dr. Nicolò Cogno, now at Harvard Medical School, worked on this project for his PhD thesis in physics at TUDa under the supervision of Professor Marco Durante. The researchers reported their findings in the scientific journal „Communications Medicine“, a journal in the Nature Portfolio.
Today, over half of all patients with lung cancer are treated with radiotherapy – an effective approach. However, a dose that is too heavy can damage the lungs and lead to further diseases. This is where research by GSI, TUDa and the University of Surrey comes in to further optimize treatment. In future, doctors could use the 3D model to plan the appropriate range and strength of radiotherapy – tailored in even greater detail to the individual patient.
Professor Dr Marco Durante, Head of GSI’s Biophysics Department, explains: “This is an important step towards further personalizing radiotherapy in cancer treatment and limiting radiation damage to healthy tissue. In the future, this could allow us to model the lungs of individual patients in a way that is not yet possible with the general statistical methods we currently use. It will also allow us to study how diseases such as fibrosis and pneumonitis are caused by conventional X-ray treatments and heavy ion therapy.”
This is the second time within a short period of time that an aspect of biophysics research at GSI/FAIR has been recognized as a breakthrough of the year. Another important scientific approach had already been one of the breakthroughs of the year in 2022. This involved FLASH radiation – the application of an ultra-high dose of radiation in a very short time – which also opens up promising new prospects for tumor therapy.
The ten most important “Breakthroughs of the Year” are selected annually by “Physics World”. The awards have been running since 2009, honoring research that represents a significant advance in knowledge or understanding, is important for scientific progress and/or practical applications and is of general interest to Physics World readers. (BP)
More information:
Top ten breakthroughs of the year 2024
Scientific publication in the journal "Communications Medicine"
Press release 2024 of GSI/FAIR
