Suhail Albakheet

Current research project

Studies in sub-lethal effects of highly pulsed ion beams.

Cancer radiotherapy aims at destroying cancerous cells in the body while minimizing radiation damage to the healthy cells surrounding the tumour.  Protons (and heavier ions), compared to x-rays, can be more effective in sparing healthy cells due to their inherent dose deposition properties in matter.  However, even exposure to moderate radiation doses is a concern as it can lead to later secondary tumours or other health complications. Recent studies indicate that the rate at which the dose is deposited is also a factor that can reduce unwanted damage to healthy cells, with better cell sparing reported for dose rates up to 100 Gy/s (FLASH radiotherapy)

A radically novel means of producing beams of particles with intrinsically ultrashort duration is via acceleration techniques employing high power lasers. Laser-driven beams have been used in pioneering radiobiology experiments at unprecedented dose rates of order 10⁹ Gy/s (10 orders of magnitude higher than in conventional radiotherapy). While the efficiency in cell killing does not show a clear dependence on dose rate, initial studies of sub-lethal effects after exposure to low dose radiation suggest a better cell recovery when the dose is delivered in ultrashort proton bursts.

Based on these initial indications, this PhD project aims to develop an experimental platform for the systematic exploration of sublethal damage recovery from exposure to ultra-high dose rates ion beams. This will involve the development of a suitable irradiation system, and of dosimetric approaches enabling the precise reconstruction of the dose deposited.  The studies will then focus on markers of cellular stress, and perform a comparative study against conventional ion irradiation.

• I’m interested in studying charged particles resulting from Laser interaction with matter