Research Overview

Members of the Division of Medical Physics are involved in basic scientific research and translational (bench-to-treatment couch) research. Research interests are principally concentrated in four areas:

  • Multi-institutional clinical trials - In collaboration with the Division of Radiation Oncology, we were the first and are currently the only Canadian centre accruing patients to the RTOG prostate, lung and bioblastoma 3D-CRT clinical trials. A current clinical trial, Northern LIGHTs-2 seeks to evaluate the use of MR-guided radiotherapy with the in-house developed Alberta Linac-MR P3 system.
  • Development of new radiotherapy treatment techniques such as image guided adaptive radiotherapy(IGAR), three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, and intensity modulated radiotherapy.
  • Development of radiotherapy planning techniques such as inverse planning, dose calculation algorithms including Monte Carlo simulations and simulated annealing techniques, and dose verification using imaging techniques.
  • Commissioning, integration and development of new technologies (e.g. the Linac-MR Project) required for the clinical introduction of new techniques to aid in the improved treatment of cancer patients.

Research and development in the Division of Medical Physics is currently supported through core funding, research grants, and industrial collaboration.

Further information about specific research initiative can be found at the following links:

Recent Research Grants

BG Fallone, R Urtansun, ALJ McEwan, M Parliament, L Ryner, R Mackie, S Halls, R Scrimger, D Murray, J Tuszynski. High Field MR for Biological Image-Guided Tomotherapy.

BG Fallone, S Rathee, R Hooper, P Stavrev, M MacKenzie, C Field, B Murray. The Development of Dose-Volume Metrics for Planning Adaptive Helical Tomotherapy.

BG Fallone, S Rathee. A Solid State Detector for Low Dose Megavoltage Computed Tomography.

BG Fallone, S Rathee, C Field. 3D Verification for ITP-Based Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy.

BG Fallone, P Stavrev. Evaluation of the Radiobiological Stability of IMRT Planning.

M Parliament, D Murray, S Damaraju, P Stavrev, BG Fallone. Exploring Genomic, Proteomic and Dosimetric Determinants of Late Toxicity after Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer.

BG Fallone. An Active Matrix Metal/a-Se System for Radiation Therapy Imaging.

RS Sloboda. Adaptation of Amorphous Silicon Portal Imaging Systems for Accurate Radiotherapy Dose Measurement.

RS Sloboda. New Vision for Prostate Implant Therapy.

AJB McEwan, JR Mercer, SA MCQuarrie, A Belch, BG Fallone, P Jacobs, D Murray, A Murtha, M Suresh, L Wiebe. Positron Emission Tomography for Basic Research, Radiopharmeceutical Development and Translational Research.

BG Fallone, R Urtasun, ALJ McEwan, S El-Sayed, M Parliament, L Ryner, R Pearcey, S Halls, R Halperin, D Murray. Biological Imaging in Advanced Image-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy.

DM Robinson, W Roa. Development of Metallic Copper as a Fiducial Marker for PET and CT