The Physics department colloquia are usually on Friday afternoons at 3 pm in Room 135. Coffee and cookies are served at 2:45 pm in the same room. Anyone is welcome.

The Promise and Perils of Proton Therapy in the War on Cancer
Dr. Brian Tonner, Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, FL)

The latest weapon in the arsenal of cancer therapy is Proton Therapy, which uses intense beams of protons in the 100-250 MeV energy range to kill cancer tumors. There are sound, fundamental physical reasons for expecting proton therapy to exceed other radiation therapy methods in effectiveness, but its implementation has been met with unforeseen difficulties, and even controversy. My research has considered the application of a method from condensed matter physics, Proton Induced X-ray Emission or PIXE, to address some of the difficulties faced in having proton therapy achieve its true promise.

This talk will discuss the background and application of proton therapy to cancer treatment from a physics perspective.