Thayer & Geisel researchers are excited to have won a four year NIBIB R01 grant entitled “Optical Cherenkov Calibration for Human Radiation Therapy” that builds upon a fundamental technological discovery made at Dartmouth, and patented for translation.
Students in the Medical Physics Program at Dartmouth have used optical imaging of Cherenkov emissions to map the radiation dose de
livered to tissue. This the first time ever that radiation dose delivered to tissue has been directly imaged with high spatial and temporal resolution. Their approach represents a complete paradigm change in how radiation therapy is documented and archived for both real time control and quality audits.
Professor Pogue remarked, “From a practical standpoint, using optical technology to image Cherenkov emissions is significantly simpler than most dosimetry tools currently available to clinicians. The challenge is to advance the quantitative accuracy in order to be competitive in documenting the dose delivered to tissue. That is what this funding will allow to be developed.”
The team is actively looking to recruit PhD students and post doctoral researchers in Medical Physics or Electrical Engineering to work on this project, and expects to use this funding to support this work over the next 4 years.