Proton Therapy Research Group

PART — Proton and Advanced Radiotherapy

The treatment of complex cancers requires an evolution in the technology, techniques and software to increase survival rates and to personalise the patient’s therapy. Our research aims to bring new developments in a wide range of disciplines, such as physics, engineering, computer science, imaging science, biology, nanotechnology and oncology, to the field of conformal radiotherapy.

About Us

PART is a multi-disciplinary, cross-faculty research network featuring physicists, computer scientists, engineers, biologists, oncologists and radiographers basedacross UCL and UCLH. This involves academics, postdoctoral researchers, PhD and MSc students from the UCL faculties of Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences and Maths and Physical Sciences, and clinical physicists, radiographers and radiation oncologists from UCLH Radiotherapy.

Projects

Predicting organ motion
Proton radiography
Deformable image registration and dose warping
PIXE for range verification
Proton planning studies
Proton calorimetry
Cellular tumour models
Cancer nanotechnology
Art for well-being
Data mining for treatment effectiveness
Radiotherapy for developing countries
Proton Dosimetry and tissue substitute materials

Research Fundraising

Prostate Cancer RADAR : RADiotherapy Advances and Research

The aim is to research and develop new technologies in radiotherapy to treat prostate cancer with the aims of increasing cure rates and reducing side effects. For more information or to donate to this research fund please visit the JustGiving page.

Proton therapy at UCLH

New UCLH Proton Beam Therapy Centre opens in 2021

The building the state-of-art proton beam therapy cancer treatment centre at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust finished in 2021.

The Proton Beam Therapy department at UCLH will treat up to 750 patients per year, from across the south of the UK. They provide treatment for a wide range of child and teenage cancers and complex adult cancers. Having high-energy proton beam therapy (PBT) available from two NHS centres in the UK will make a big difference to patients and their families. UCLH is proud to be delivering this service from its new Grafton Way building, alongside The Christie in Manchester.

UK proton beam therapy centres

The advantage of proton beam therapy over conventional radiotherapy lies within the precision of the proton beam, which results in higher doses of radiotherapy being delivered. By precisely targeting the cancer, normal tissues receive very little radiation, leading to fewer side-effects and reduced long term consequences, including the risk of a secondary malignancy - this is particularly important for children.
An NHS internal competition was originally held to identify appropriate centres capable of meeting the commissioner’s requirements to deliver a UK-based proton beam therapy service. University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts and the Christie NHS Foundation Trust (Manchester) were chosen.
The UK service will bring together some of the world’s leading specialists in complex cancers. Together, UCLH and The Christie will see more children and teenagers with cancer than almost any other centre in the world, and more adults with brain cancers than any other centre in the UK. The two trusts will also be able to drive forward research into what remains a relatively new treatment.

Image: Scott Tallon and Walker, architects

An important focus of our R&D programme is the new UCLH proton therapy centre, due to open in 2021. Many of our projects aim at providing new tools and techniques to support the clinical teams delivering proton treatments.

Further details about proton therapy at UCLH.