Changes and uncertainties of the irradiated anatomy are a major challenge for radiotherapy and particle therapy in particular. Tumours located in organs affected by breathing motion, heartbeat or peristalsis therefore are especially difficult to treat and in fact often show poor prognosis for the patients. Research on dedicated treatment strategies for such tumours has been conducted at GSI and many other centers, resulting in many different strategies for motion mitigation and compensation. Nearly all of this research has been conducted on patients lying on a couch for imaging and therapy. For upright patients, the anatomy as well as the organ motion of the abdomen and thorax changes significantly, which will have an impact on target coverage, OAR doses and the efficacy of motion mitigation strategies. 

The objective of this PhD project is to investigate the impact of the upright patient posture on particle therapy of tumours in the thorax and abdomen. This includes studies on the changed anatomy, change motion patterns, as well as different motion mitigation strategies. GSI’s in house treatment planning system TRiP98 supports simulations and experimental planning of several motion mitigation strategies, including range-considering ITVs, gating, rescanning, tracking or dedicated 4D-plan libraries, as well as robust plan evaluation in the presence of periodic or variable motion. 

The Doctoral Candidate will assess these effects on data acquired together with the project partners at PSI, ASG or HZDR, supported by secondments at PSI and Therapanacea. Based on treatment planning studies, recommendations for upright therapy of mobile targets will be developed, including patient positioning, beam directions, motion mitigation and plan adaptation strategies. The Candidate will finetune existing or develop additional motion mitigation strategies dedicated to upright therapy, also in support of particle arc therapy. Finally, the results will be validated in an experimental campaign at the clinical sites of the UPLIFT project using the phantom developed by DC15, and in collaboration with several other projects for immobilization, imaging, QA, and beam surveillance. 

Your profile 

To fulfill the ambitious goals of this project, we are looking for a Doctoral Candidate with a very good master’s degree in physics, Engineering, Informatics or equivalents, ideally with prior knowledge on Medical Physics or Technology. Experience in radiotherapy or particle therapy, image processing, or programming – TriP98 is written in C – are advantageous. A significant part of the project will be dedicated to organizing and conducting the experimental campaign, so related experience is a definitive plus. For the same reason, the Candidate ideally demonstrates strong communication and organizational skills. 

Application process 

If you find this position interesting and would like to work in an exceptional, international, strongly innovative environment, please send your full application documents, including the filled application form, motivation letter, short CV, list of most important publications with explanation of your own contribution, and information of your earliest possible starting date. If you are applying for more than one UPLIFT PhD position, you may indicate your top 1-3 preferences in the application form by using the DC numbers associated with the projects. Please submit your application to [email protected] until January 15, 2025.

We anticipate video conference interviews with candidates starting in the third week of February,
for start dates from March 2025. Applications submitted without any of the required documents will not be considered.  

Candidates can be of any nationality but must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date. Applicants should be within the first four years of their research careers and must not have been awarded a doctoral degree. Submitted applications will be evaluated in accordance with the European Code of Conduct for Recruitment.