NWO XS grant for Elizabeth Carroll
The Board of NWO Domain Science has awarded sixteen applications in the NWO Open Competition Domain Science - XS. Elizabeth Carroll received the grant for her project: "Mechanism of tissue damage in FLASH radiotherapy".
Cancer patients treated by radiotherapy frequently suffer negative side effects, but an intense type of radiotherapy called “FLASH” therapy may help spare damage to healthy tissues. Recently, dr. Elizabeth Carroll was awarded an XS grant from NWO to study the molecular mechanisms of FLASH therapy using zebrafish embryos. Using the research bunker at the Holland Proton Therapy Center, her team will test the hypothesis that FLASH dose-rates generate fewer toxic reactive oxygen species. The project is conducted in collaboration with dr. Zoltan Perko (RST) , dr. Marta Rovituso (Holland PTC), and Applied Physics master’s student Sander Schornagel.
Elizabeth Carroll
Mechanism of tissue damage in FLASH radiotherapy
Dr. E.C.M. Carroll (Technische Universiteit Delft)
Cancer patients treated by radiation therapy frequently suffer negative side effects. FLASH therapy is a promising new radiotherapy that appears to be as effective as conventional therapies, but causes less damage to healthy tissues. FLASH delivers a conventional dose of radiation in a fraction of a second, using very high dose rates. The treatment has not yet been adopted in the clinic, in part, because it is poorly understood how it works in the body. We will test leading hypotheses about the mechanisms of FLASH therapy using protons irradiation and molecular imaging in a model organism.