Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects

Radiation therapy, which destroys cancer cells and shrinks tumors in a target area, is a routine clinical practice. Traditionally,radiation treatments have been carried out in two dimensions (i.e. width and height). Rapid advances in solid tumor imagingtechniques such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), however, allowed the use of threedimension(3D; width, height, and depth) radiation therapy where more precise targeting of a target tumor with radiationsources is possible. Despite the advances made to locate the tumor and to deliver therapeutic radiation in 3D target volumewith high conformity and precision, measurement of 3D dose distribution has not been matched. The goal of this CHRPproposal is to design radiation dose measuring kits (dosimeters) from naturally occurring hydrogel and synthetic materials forpredictable treatment outcome.