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discovered_01_2013

discovered 01.13 PORTRAIT WWW.Hzdr.DE // New Institute of Radiooncology at the HZDR. _Text . Anja Weigl Improving cancer therapy using “new” kind of radiation For some time now, the HZDR, the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital Dresden, and the Faculty of Medicine at the TU Dresden have been working together at the Dresden- based OncoRay Center in the area of radiation research in the fight against cancer. The mission of the HZDR’s new Institute of Radiooncology – founded January 1, 2013 – is to further increase the presence of Radiooncology research in Dresden. One focus of the research is on proton-beam therapy. The director of the new Institute of Radiooncology, Michael Baumann, is an esteemed leading international cancer expert. He is Director of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Dresden University Hospital and Chair of the OncoRay Research Center. And he is a former president of ESTRO, the European Radiation Therapy Association, and ECCO, the European Cancer Society. Michael Baumann also advises the German federal government on health research in the “Forschungsunion”. And when asked how cancer might be prevented, the advice he offers seems simple enough: “Quit smoking, eat healthy, be physically active.” Unfortunately, this is no patent prescription: As clinical director, who is dealing with cancer patients on a daily basis, he knows this better than anyone. According to Michael Baumann, oncology – the science of cancer prevention, diagnosis, therapy, and follow-up care – has come a long way in recent decades. No other medical field has seen this much progress in offering patients personalized care based on the latest biological and technological research. This is also the approach taken by cancer research in Dresden. For many years, OncoRay Center scientists and physicians have been doing research into technologically optimized and biologically individualized forms of radiation therapy to help cure a larger number of cancer patients. Only close collaborations will ensure that new research findings make their way quickly out of the lab into the clinic and to the patient. The new Institute of Radiooncology is meant to help with promoting translation of the latest radiation research findings. The Institute builds a scientific structure reflecting that of the University Hospital’s Radiation Oncology clinic and OncoRay. Just as is the case there, the Institute will have four departments: radiation oncology, translational radiation oncology, medical radiation physics, and radiation biology. The clinic, OncoRay, and the Institute will also be close together geographically. Researchers are scheduled to move into the new proton therapy center, located right next to the clinic, later this year. Approximately in 2014, the center's proton beams will be used in cancer therapy and tested in clinical trials. Particle beams are capable of destroying malignant tumors with higher precision while better protecting the surrounding healthy tissue than do conventional X-rays. Together with their HZDR colleagues at the Institutes of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research and Radiation Physics, the scientists are planning on developing a proton beam therapy technology using visualization methods that help characterize biological properties of tumors, which in turn would optimize planning the radiation treatment. Other topics include more precise irradiation of moving tumors, real-time monitoring of the radiation dose, or a new laser-based ion beam accelerator technology. A prototype of this technology is slated for testing in the following years at the new proton therapy center. Treatment of the first patients is scheduled for 2014. CANCER EXPERT: Michael Baumann is Director of the Institute of Radiooncology. Photo: André Wirsig ContaCt _Institute of Radiooncology at HZDR Prof. Michael Baumann via: Carolin Haase carolin.haase@uniklinikum-dresden.de

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