Department of Physics and Astronomy

Example Biological/Health/Medical Physics Project Descriptions

The P&A department has a medical physics Ph.D. program in collaboration with the Radiation Oncology department (RO) and attached UT hospital. Several RO professors hold adjunct faculty appointments in our department. Extensive facilities at the RO department and hospital available to REU students are listed in the Facilities document. The REU students have benefited from these expanded research opportunities in the field of medical physics. Part of their experience includes shadowing of medical physicists, giving students the opportunity to participate in all aspects of regular clinical functions, such as patient imaging, image fusions, contouring, creating treatment plans, performing patient-specific and machine quality assurance procedures. The positive response from the REU mentors (practicing medical physicists and RO faculty at the hospital) has encouraged us to expand this area with additional REU student participation. The REU students’ experiences were extremely valuable because they interacted with their faculty mentors, as well as other professionals in a highly-respected, university hospital setting. Potential research in health physics concentrates on neurology correlating upper cervical disarrangements as measured by functional MRI; microscopy and imaging of cells and tissues based on modalities such as fluorescence, scattering, interferometry, photo-acoustics; nanotechnology-based imaging and sensing; nanotechnology-based drug delivery and therapy. Additionally, research in biophysics includes: using Raman scattering and infrared absorption to study the microscopic interaction between DNA and various ligand molecules; using calorimetry to study the binding strengths of water to DNA; and the study of hyaluronic acid (HA).

Highlighted Project:Title: Thermo- Brachyratherapy Seed Implant, Mentors: Profs. D. Shyvdka, D.Pearson Description: This project involves the development of a thermo-brachyratherapy implant device capable of delivering radiation and heat from the same source and aiming at the concurrent administration of radiation and hyperthermia treatments of cancer. The ferromagnetic core of each implant produces heat when subjected to an alternating electromagnetic (EM) field. The student will learn to use COMSOL Multiphysics software package to model thermal distributions for single and multiple seed configurations when subject to the alternating EM field. Furthermore, the student determines via Monte Carlo modeling using MCNP5/6 software package if combining thermal and radiation properties significantly alters the dosimetric properties of the implant loaded with radioactive material such as iodine (125I) or palladium (103Pd). A significant effort, of applying these models to patient-specific seed distributions as well as theoretical and experimental development of seed implants based on ferrite materials, is in progress which will provide an ideal opportunity for REU student involvement.   

Julianna Pfadt, REU 2014, running Varian Edge medical accelerator.

Professional Development: REU students will get the opportunity to observe a functional RO clinic, treatment of cancer patients, and shadow medical physicists. Students will participate in various clinical activities such as treatment planning, quality assurance, and patient-specific measurements, etc. In order to get admitted into the clinic, each student has to go through orientation and training, covering requirements for handling patient-specific information Students will learn numerous aspects of COMSOL Multiphysics, and MCNP5/6 (Monte Carlo) modeling software packages and how to apply their results to real-life situations. Experimental techniques will be developed by the student to make measurements of heat production by the prototype seeds to test the predictions of their models.

Other projects: “Thin Film CdTe Radiation Detectors For Medical Dosimetry and Imaging Applications”, (Prof. D. Shyvdka). One of the standard uses for cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor compound devices beyond thin-film photovoltaics is in radiation detection and measurements due to the high average atomic number of the compound. The REU researcher will aid in the design of new generation thin-film and multiple thin-film (stack configuration) CdTe radiation detectors. He or She will perform theoretical Monte Carlo modeling of the radiation transport in these devices for the various configurations using high-energy radiation transport simulation software packages, MCNP5/6 and BEAM NRC. Students can also do experimental studies of device’s behavior under high-energy beams of linear accelerators, and electrical characterization of multi-stack imager prototypes.

Last Updated: 6/27/22