Compact delivery system for microbeam radiation therapy developed using nanotechnology
In a study published online by Applied Physics Letters, a multidisciplinary team led by Physics Professor Otto Zhou, PhD; Radiation Oncology Associate Professor X. Sha Chang, PhD; and Physics Professor Jianping Lu, PhD, built a device using carbon nanotube-based x-ray source array technology developed at UNC that can generate microbeam radiation with similar characteristics as the beams generated by synchrotron radiation. Researchers from Applied Sciences and Radiology at UNC also participated in this study. Zhou, a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, points to several studies that have shown that microbeam radiation destroyed tumors and increased survival by as much as a factor of ten in brain tumor bearing animals treated with the technique. …