A cancer dose in a blink: a Latvian physicist maps a faster, gentler way to aim radiation

Radiation treatment usually delivers its dose over several minutes. A Latvian doctoral researcher, Kristaps Paļskis, has been studying a very different idea called FLASH: giving the whole dose in a few hundred milliseconds — faster than a blink — in a way that may destroy cancer cells while sparing more of the healthy tissue around them. Working mainly at CERN, the European particle-physics laboratory, and with a cancer research centre in Germany, he ran computer simulations and chemical experiments on using helium ions — heavier particles that can be aimed more precisely than standard X-rays. His thesis, completed in a joint programme at Riga Technical University and the University of Latvia, gives future FLASH treatments a firmer theoretical footing.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation