Developing novel nuclear techniques for medicine

About the Project

You think that science should do more to improve our quality of life and expand people's lifetime? We agree with you and can provide you an opportunity to contribute in this never ending battle. Our group is on the forefront of development of novel nuclear technologies for medical application. We have recently developed Quantum Entangled Positron Emission Tomography (QE-PET), results were published in Nature comms. and Phys. Rev. Lett. journals, we are working on novel methods of medical isotopes production and on improving external beam cancer treatment.

One of the most efficient diagnostic procedures, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), requires the use of extremely expensive (more than $2k per dose) and very short lived (half-life ~ 2h) isotopes. That is why even in the UK less than 10% of patients who need it, get it. New methods that you will help to develop will make PET isotopes more affordable and reduce the necessary dose for PET scans.

Novel approaches for cancer treatments with proton and high-energy photons which you will explore within this project will potentially save thousands of lives.

You will get a lot of experience and gain employable skills in the fields of nuclear medicine. You will perform a lot of simulations of various medically relevant technology cases with state of the art GEANT software, construct prototypes and experimentally verify these methods at accelerator facilities. This project involves a lot of hardware construction as well as simulation and data analysis. Test runs will be conducted at the electron accelerators, laser accelerator facilities and proton beam proton .

Please get in touch if you require further information.

Requirements:

Abilities to program, preferably C++. Knowledge of nuclear physics. UoY based, travel within UK to accelerator facilities and possible travel to accelerators in Germany can be expected (few weeks a year) during project time. This project is open-ended making it suitable for MSc by Research and PhD level.

How to Apply:

Applicants should apply via the University’s online application system at https://www.york.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/apply/. Please read the application guidance first so that you understand the various steps in the application process.

Funding Notes

This is a self-funded project and you will need to have sufficient funds in place (eg from scholarships, personal funds and/or other sources) to cover the tuition fees and living expenses for the duration of the research degree programme. Please check the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology website View Website for details about funding opportunities at York.