Research Projects

Project Name: Ultracompact electron accelerators for internal radiotherapy (UCART)

Project Duration: 03/2025 - 02/2027

Funded by: Carl Zeiss Stiftung (Program: CZS Wildcard)

UCART is a joint project of our division with the Institute for Beam Physics and Technology (IBPT; Head: Prof. Dr. Anke-Susanne Müller) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and aims at developing a new scheme for internal radiotherapy, based on a novel laser-driven plasma acceleration of electrons. The novel mechanism, developed at KIT is based on ultracompact devices, of only a few millimeters in size. Such a small device has the potential to be inserted into the body with a catheter and treat small lesions similar to brachytherapy. The huge advantage would be that there is no need for handling of radioactive sources, a low power consumption and thus a potential to scale the device to large numbers for pateitn service worldwide. 

Click here for more information on the KIT website. 

The DKFZ press release is available here (in German only).

Project Name: Comparative full proteome analysis to reveal distinct molecular mechanisms of carbon ion, proton, and photon beam irradiation in two rat prostate carcinomas

Project Duration: 01/2026 - 01/2028

Research Group: Applied Medical Radiation Physics (Head: Prof. Dr. Christian Karger)

Finanziert durch: Wilhelm Sander Foundation (Funding Number: 2025.003.1)

This project performs a comprehensive longitudinal proteomic analysis of tissue samples from two sublines of a rat prostate carcinoma exposed to curative or subcurative doses of carbon ions, protons or photons. The aim is to investigate the differential protein expression pathways between carbon ions, protons and photons as well as between curative vs subcurative doses to identify predictive markers for the endpoint tumor control. In addition, the impact of tumor characteristics will be investigated. The results of this project will help to identify radiation quality-dependent biological responses to carbon ion, proton and photon irradiations and to optimize patient treatments with ion beams. The project is performed in close cooperation with the Division Radiooncology / Radiobiology.

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Project Name: matRad – an open-source dose calculation and treatment planning toolkit

Funding Period: 2022 – 2025

Research Group: Radiotherapy Optimization (Head: Dr. Niklas Wahl)

Funding Information: matRad development is currently funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) -- Project No. 443188743: "Sustainable development of the open source radiotherapy dose calculation and optimization toolkit matRad"

matRad is an open source software for radiation treatment planning of intensity-modulated photon, proton, and carbon ion therapy. matRad is developed for educational and research purposes and entirely written in MATLAB. matRad is published on GitHub (https://github.com/e0404/matRad) and is used I numerous in-house, collaborative, and independent international research projects.

matRad implements established dose calculation algorithms for photons, protons and carbon ions as well as non-linear constrained biological treatment plan optimization. It includes open patient and machine data and features a graphical user interface and a powerful scripting API. During the funding period, matRad will be extended to facilitate interfacing of open Monte Carlo dose calculation techniques, inclusion of helium and advanced biological models, and working with matRad from Python. Further, development will be professionalized to follow continuous integration standards and automated tests & builds.

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Project Name: Antropomorphic phantoms for upright treatment validation 

Project Duration: 07/2025 - 06/2028 (doctoral project)

Research Group: Medical Engineering (Head: Armin Runz)

Funded by: European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101168955

Driven by its potential to reduce treatment costs and improve patient comfort, upright radiotherapy is rapidly gaining momentum. However, shifting a patient from a supine to an upright position introduces significant gravitational changes in internal organ geometry, deviating from the anatomy captured in standard diagnostic scans. This project aims to develop a specialized anthropomorphic phantom that replicates these postural deformations, providing a critical validation tool to ensure precision in upright treatment systems. It is part of the Uplift Consortium “Upright radiotherapy: Learning, Innovation, Fellowship and Training” as project 13. 

Click here for more information about our research group. 

Project Name: In-vivo monitoring of carbon ion radiotherapy delivery (InViMo)

Project Duration:  2019 - until today

Reserach Group: Novel Detection Techniques for Ion Beams (Head: Dr. Mária Martišíková)

Funded by: National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Funding Program "Proof-of-Concept Clinical Trials" (funding period: 2019 - 2023)

During the radiation treatments of patients by carbon ions, a wide spectra of secondary radiation is leaving the patient. We developed a method to track these single secondary ions. By analysing their paths we draw conclusions about possible internal changes in the patient's tissue along the beam path (e.g. filling of the nose cavity), which might be critical for the local controll of the dissease. Since secondary radiation is escaping the treated patient as a by-product of the treatiment, this kind of imaging does not require any additional radiation dose to the patient. Following year-long research on patient models, we are about to start a clinical study at the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center.

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Project Name: Reducing secondary cancer risk by measuring neutron exposure in light ion beam radiotherapy

Project Duration: 2023 - 2026

Research Group: Translational Research for Ion Beam Therapy (Head: Dr. José Vedelago)

Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), funding number 495217943

With particular relevance for paediatric patients and radiotherapy during pregnancy, the effects of secondary neutrons in proton and light ion beam therapy need to be further investigated. It is, therefore, necessary to improve the current neutron detection techniques, particularly with a focus on the high-energy neutrons generated during particle therapy. For this, this project is currently implementing Fluorescent Nuclear Track Detectors (FNTDs) as a technique to improve secondary neutron dose quantification. Even considering previous reports where these secondary neutron doses are rather low, improving their experimental quantification will help to better estimate the potential long-term risk. As a long-term goal, including this information in the treatment planning systems would make it possible to select improved treatment for the patients.

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Project Name: Online adaptive radiotherapy for locally advanced lung cancer: assessing the patient benefit in a multi-centric comparison of CBCT- and MRI-guidance approaches

Project Duration: 03/2023 - 02/2028

Funded by: German Cancer Aid, funding number 70114708 => 8. Ausschreibungsrunde (2021)

Within the Priority Program Translational Oncology of the German Cancer Aid, we were successful to obtain funds for a collaborative research project and clinical study for radiotherapy in lung cancer patients. For our project application entitled Online adaptive radiotherapy for locally advanced lung cancer: assessing the patient benefit in a multi-centric comparison of CBCT- and MRI-guidance approaches, we were able to obtain a 1.5M€ grant to perform a clinical trial for MR-guided radiotherapy, which has been initiated at the three participating MR-linac centers at the University Hospitals in Heidelberg, Tübingen and the Ludwigs-Maximilians-University (LMU) in Munich and which will soon be started at the new ETHOS® system at DKFZ.

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Project Name: AI-Based Risk Assessment for Radiation-Induced Lung Injury in Lung Cancer SBRT

Project Duration: 2022 - 2024

Funded by: Wilhelm Sander-Stiftung, funding number 3010001119

In the multifaceted field of lung cancer research, distinct biomarkers have been discovered through separate omics analyses, encompassing clinical phenomics, radiomics, dosiomics, and biomolecular omics. These biomarkers provide crucial insights, captured both longitudinally over time and at specific instances. Importantly, the diverse datasets derived from these omics analyses are routinely collected and available when a patient undergoes radiotherapy treatment. Our project seeks to harness this information by developing an AI-based workflow that will integrate these different layers of data. The objective is to accurately predict the risk of radiation-induced lung injury and distinguish it from cancer recurrence. This critical differentiation aids in selecting the optimal clinical therapeutic strategies to manage post-radiotherapy complications, ultimately guiding clinicians toward a more personalized, data-driven approach to lung cancer treatment.

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