The development of modern radiation-based medical imaging and treatment tools is closely interlinked with the progress in Nuclear Physics and related areas. Improving cutting-edge cancer therapies (such as radiotherapy using ion beams, targeted radionuclide therapy, or their enhancement by means of nanotechnology) and imaging techniques (e.g. positron emitting tomography) requires intensive research in Nuclear Physics along with Atomic-Molecular and Condensed-Matter Physics. Research in these fields is necessary to get a better understanding of the plethora of fundamental processes underlying their medical applications, including nuclear reactions of energetic ions in the body, radioactive decay of their fragments or of supplied radioisotopes, or the many-body processes involved in the nanoscale biomolecular radiation damage mechanisms in the condensed-phase. This workshop aims to gather theoretical, experimental and clinical experts from these diverse fields in order to foster multidisciplinary understanding and collaboration, for the advancement of radiation-based medical techniques and their fundamental physical understanding.
The aim of this workshop (the first at ECT* devoted to medical applications of Nuclear Physics) is to gather researchers from different disciplines (theoretical, experimental and clinical) working in complementary fields, so to make clinicians acquainted with the latest theoretical and experimental developments, while basic researchers can tune their work to better satisfy the actual medical needs.
This workshop has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 840752 NanoEnHanCeMent (https://nanoenh.fbk.eu/)