PI Rory Goodwin, MD, PhD; co-PI Mark Oldham, PhD; and co-investigators and collaborators Scott Floyd, MD, PhD; Ying Wu, PhD; and Cristian Badea, PhD, received a Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) Research Pilot Award for their project "Ultra-high dose rate radiation therapy (FLASH-RT) for Metastatic Spine Disease." The team will receive $50,000 in funding through June 30, 2027.
From the project lay abstract: "This project studies a new form of radiation therapy called ultra-high dose rate radiation, or FLASH-RT. FLASH-RT delivers high dose radiation extremely quickly and has been shown in animal studies to preserve normal tissues while still killing cancer cells. However, FLASH-RT has never been carefully tested for tumors in the spine, where sensitive nerves, muscles and bones are tightly packed together. Using a mouse model that closely mimics spine cancer in patients, this study will compare FLASH-RT to standard radiation treatment to determine whether FLASH-RT can better protect the spinal cord, preserve the ability to walk and control tumor growth." Read more about FLASH-RT here.
Pictured: Ying Wu, PhD, and Mark Oldham, PhD, at the high intensity gamma-ray source (HIGS) beam line.