P 134 - Performance, functionality, and future upgrades of the Christie proton research beamline for radiobiology

Warmenhoven, John-William; Henthorn, Nicholas; Ingram, Samuel; Manger, Samuel; Burford-Eyre, Samuel; Aylward, Jack; Merchant, Michael; Taylor, Michael; Mackay, Ranald; Kirkby, Karen

Abstract

The University of Manchester/Christie NHS FT proton research room (Figure 1) has been operational since late 2019 occupying the 4th gantry room of the proton therapy centre and is served by the same accelerator as the clinical rooms. This room offers researchers access to clinically-relevant-energy proton irradiation for in vitro samples and is the only dedicated proton research facility of its kind in the UK. The research room also has a dedicated biology end-station that provides automated irradiation of samples in environmental conditions controlled for temperature, humidity, and gas mixture. The endstation and fully equipped bio-prep room enables us to provide high throughput irradiation of biological samples in ideal conditions for in vitro experiments. Additionally, funding has been secured to expand the capabilities of the room by building a second pre-clinical beamline. This new beamline will be split from the main beamline by a dipole magnet and provide pencil beam scanning of a 1 mm spot over a 30x30 mm area at dose rates exceeding 40 Gy/s, both in transmission and Bragg-peak modes. Here, we provide details of the measured capabilities to highlight what is available to researchers, some examples of experimental achievements, and descriptions of future capabilities.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Abstract
• Conference Name: Annual Conference of the Particle Therapy Cooperative Group
• Start Date: Jun 10, 2023
• End Date: Jun 16, 2023
• Acceptance Date: Apr 1, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Nov 3, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Sep 24, 2024
• Print ISSN: 2331-5180
• Electronic ISSN: 2331-5180
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 288-289
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.14338/IJPT-23-PTCOG61-10.2
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/12908559