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Multi-scale modeling of Radiation Therapy – Bridging the gap from Physics to Biology

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SPEAKER:
Jan Schuemann, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

Associate Professor
Associate Director of Physics Research
Head of the Multi-scale Monte-Carlo Modeling Lab

DATE/TIME:
FRI, 11/18/2022 - 3:00PM TO 4:00PM
LOCATION:
Zoom

Abstract:
Modeling approaches offer a strong tool to understand mechanisms of complex processes, allowing us to probe correlations that are not accessible with experimental techniques. My lab uses the Monte Carlo method to investigate the effects of radiation on tissue at multiple scales. We try to understand how initial physics processes at the DNA scale can result in cell damage and repair. We then try to apply our models to investigate outcome of different therapies with the goal to find the best treatments design for, for example, external beam therapy, FLASH therapy or radiopharmaceutical therapy.

Here are a few facts about me:
– 2000 masters in high energy Physics at HERA, Hamburg, Germany
– 2000-2005 PhD at National Taiwan University studying CP-Violations at Belle, KEK, Japan (PhD)
– 2005 postdoc in Taiwan
– 2006 postdoc with JSPS / Alexander v. Humboldt scholarship at Belle
– 2008 Project researcher at the Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) at Tokyo University, studying neutrions
– 2010 postdoc at MGH
– 2013 instructor
– 2015 Assist. Prof
– 2019 Assoc. Prof
– Current VP of the Radiation Research Society

Research focussed on
– multi-disciplinary research
– multi-scale MC simulations
– understanding cell scale effects
– FLASH-RT – combining in vivo, in vitro, in silico

Webinar ID 986 1256 7590

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Safe Enough? The History of Probabilistic Risk Assessment and Nuclear Safety.

Official NRC Photo Wellock 2020
SPEAKER:
Thomas Wellock

Historian

DATE/TIME:
FRI, 11/04/2022 - 3:00PM TO 4:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 Etcheverry Hall

Abstract: Since the dawn of the Atomic Age, nuclear experts have confronted a deceptively simple question: When is a reactor “safe enough” to adequately protect the public? And, for 70 years, they have pursued a deceptively simple answer that quantified the probability of a major reactor accident. In his presentation, Tom Wellock will discuss the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission’s decision to develop the controversial Reactor Safety Study, the world’s first Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA), and its influence on safety regulation.

Biography: Thomas Wellock is the historian at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He is the author of Safe Enough? A History of Nuclear Power and Accident Risk (University of California Press, 2021) and two other books on the history of nuclear power and environmentalism. He was also a professor of U.S. history, earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley, and, prior to his midlife crisis, worked as a reactor test engineer at the Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, CT and a systems engineer at the Davis-Besse nuclear power station near Toledo, OH.