Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health

Supervisor: Dr John Fenner

Project:

The Medical Physics group (Dept of Cardiovascular Science) has a history of successful collaboration with the National Centre for Stereotactic Radiosurgery at Sheffield [1,2] . This project will deliver a proof-of-concept hardware/software solution that demonstrates the feasibility of desktop simulation for computing radiosurgery dose distributions to high fidelity within a critical 15-minute time window. This will adapt the GEANT Monte Carlo code [3,4], exploit GPU acceleration [5] and illustrate computed dose distributions that are consistent with known solutions.

The exercise will require formulation of physical descriptions with carefully optimised assumptions for efficient Monte Carlo simulation of approximately 200 radiation beams, enabling dose calculation at sub-millimetre resolution within the required 15 minute window. A particular focus will be development and evaluation of key elements (eg. collimator modelling, compute parallelism) and their contribution to the quality of dose simulation. Our previous involvement with Monte Carlo simulation is able to provide valuable experience that can help to establish confidence in this new technology. Furthermore, the work is strengthened by its link with our NHS colleagues, providing collaborative support and access to data from its Gamma Knife resources.

1. http://www.gammaknife.org.uk/
2. V Ganesan, R Mehrem, Fenner J, Walton L. Monte Carlo simulation for Gamma Knife Radiosurgery using the Grid. Radiosurgery. Kondziolka D (ed)  Basel, Karger (2006) 6:26-35.
3. Allison, J.; Amako, K.; Apostolakis, J.; Araujo, H.; Arce Dubois, P.; Asai, M.; Barrand, G.; Capra, R. et al. Geant4 developments and applications. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science (2006) 53: 270
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geant4
5. http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_home_new.html

Entry Requirements:

Candidates must have a first or upper second class honors degree in physics, engineering, computer science or have significant research experience.

Enquiries:

Interested candidates should in the first instance contact Dr John Fenner (j.w.fenner@sheffield.ac.uk).

How to apply:

Please complete a University Postgraduate Research Application form and attach at least two references to your application. To complete the application form please click the ‘Apply’ button below.

Please clearly state the prospective main supervisor in the respective box and select ‘Cardiovascular Science’ as the department.

Website: http://www.shef.ac.uk/cardiovascularscience

Closing date: 3^rd February 2014