Ultracompact electron accelerators for internal radiotherapy (UCART)

Focus topic: Life Science Technologies
Type of funding: Project funding programmes
Programme: CZS Wildcard
Funded institution:
  • Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

In order to spare healthy tissue, the project aims to irradiate tumors directly in the body. To this end, a (sub-)millimeter electron accelerator is to be developed that can be inserted endoscopically into the body and generate radiation directly at the tumour.

Goals

Radiotherapy is an important pillar in cancer treatment. Current treatment methods for deep-seated tumors usually rely on external radiation, which also damages healthy tissue. Opportunities to significantly improve existing radiation equipment have largely been exhausted. In addition, global access to these therapies is restricted by high infrastructure requirements and costs.

The "UCART" project aims to take a completely new approach to radiotherapy. Novel, light-driven mechanisms for electron acceleration reduce the size of the accelerators by more than 1,000 times from meters to (sub)millimeters. This means that the ultra-compact electron accelerators can be inserted into the body using minimally invasive endoscopy and electron beams are generated directly in the body close to the tumor. This enables high-precision treatment while sparing healthy tissue. The overall goal is to create low-cost, ultra-compact radiotherapy devices that can be operated in a similar way to X-ray machines and that are widely used in medical facilities. This would enable precise, personalized and less damaging cancer treatments and make them available to a greater number of patients, from local medical practices to developing countries.

Prof. Dr. Anke-Susanne Müller and Prof. Dr. Matthias Fuchs from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg are conducting research into this.

Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel, Prof. Dr. Anke-Susanne Müller, Prof. Dr. Matthias Fuchs
Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel, Prof. Dr. Anke-Susanne Müller, Prof. Dr. Matthias Fuchs
Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel, Prof. Dr. Anke-Susanne Müller, Prof. Dr. Matthias Fuchs

Involved persons:

Dr. Karla Hillerich

Program Manager

Phone: +49 (0) 711 162 213 – 21

E-mail: karla.hillerich@carl-zeiss-stiftung.de

Prof. Dr. Anke-Susanne Müller

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Detailed information:

Focus topic: Life Science Technologies
Programme: CZS Wildcard
Type of funding: Project funding programmes
Target groups: Postdocs
Professors
Junior professors
Junior research group leaders
Funding budget: 750.000 €
Additional overhead: 150.000 €
Period of time: März 2025 - Februar 2027

Funded institution:

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie