Development of a multipurpose small animal phantom for pre-clinical radiotherapy studies

Project Description

The project aims to both reduce the total number of animals used for preclinical radiotherapy experiments whilst concurrently increasing the accuracy of such investigations in order to maximise their clinical impact. This will be achieved through the development of a multipurpose small animal phantom and standardized dosimetry procedures aiming to reduce dose uncertainties in preclinical investigations (due to the steep dose responses, a 5% improvement in dose uncertainty would roughly halve the number of animal required to achieve the same statistical relevance). Inclusion of a bespoke microfluidic device, for human tissue culture, will also offer an alternative in vivo-like option for radiation-drug synergistic studies, standardizing radiobiological experiments to be undertaken by new groups using human tissue biopsies. The proposed phantom will scale down established medical physics methodologies to provide confidence and accuracy for pre-clinical studies to match current clinical practice. The project addresses pre-clinical issues identified by translational research groups, the funding bodies and the clinical community opening up new business opportunities for dosimetry services.