Advances in particle physics in medicine focus a discussion between Gabriela Llosá, a researcher at the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC, CSIC- UV) and Marisa Cubells, doctor of radiology of the Unit for Prevention of Breast Cancer at La Fe. It will be on Tuesday 13 May at the Cultural Centre La Nau (c/ Universitat, 2), from 19:00 with free admission. The event will be broadcast on the Internet by MediaUni (MediaUni).
Physics and medicine have over a century of fruitful relationship, since the invention of X-rays in 1895 and its application to reveal the secrets of the human body. Nowadays antiparticles (positrons) are used to obtain the best image of the inside of the body, the PET image. 10,000 particle accelerators do radiotherapy in hospitals of the world, 236 in Spain.
Gabriela Llosá is specialised in the development of detectors for medical physics, mainly on issues related to image PET by diagnosis. She has participated in several major research centres of particle physics in the world, such as CERN and PSI (both in Switzerland) and INFN (Italy). In 2011 she was awarded with the IDEA by the City of Arts and Sciences Foundation in the Technology category for her work on developing a system to monitor therapy with heavy particles in real time.
Therapy with heavy particles (hadronic therapy) uses protons or other particles composed instead of photons used in conventional radiotherapy for cancer. This technique minimises the damage suffered by the patient, because the dose of deposited energy when spreading in the human body directly affects the tumor, without affecting healthy tissues. At the Science Park of the University of Valencia it is built the headquarters of the Institute of Medical Physics (IFIMED), a facility of reference in Spain for research in image and accelerators applied to medicine.
Otherwise, Marisa Cubells is a doctor specialised in radiology. Master in Management and Organization of Hospitals and Health Services at the UPV, and in the Senior Management Programme in Health Institutions of the IESE, she has been deputy director of the Medical University Hospital in Valencia. Currently she is working in the Unit for the Prevention of Breast Cancer at La Fe.
This lecture is part of the series “Mysteries of the matter and the Universe: science, technology and society”, organised by the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC, CSIC- UV) in collaboration with the Office of the Vice-Principal for Culture and Equality of the University of Valencia marked by the celebration, in July, of the most important international conference on particle physics, ICHEP2014.
Last update: 12 de may de 2014 11:23.
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