Goals
The Radiological Sciences Training Grant supports Ph.D. and postdoctoral research related to cancer. The goal of this training program is to prepare physicists and engineers for research careers in radiological physics and dosimetry as well as in functional, anatomical, and interventional medical imaging as it applies to the detection and treatment of cancer.
Faculty trainers in this program are committed to excellence in research broadly applied to cancer treatment, diagnosis, and prevention. We take a multi-disciplinary approach that is strongly image-science based and is increasingly molecular-focused. Trainees are immersed in this comprehensive research environment. Research training is available in every major area of physics involved with cancer treatment and diagnosis, cancer biology, and in emerging areas of molecular imaging.
Administration
Principal Investigator: Brian Pogue, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator: Bryan Bednarz, Ph.D.
Administrator: Taylor Hartung
Appointments
The Radiological Sciences Training grant supports six predoctoral trainees and two postdoctoral trainees. Training grant opportunities open each year to replace individuals rotating off because of the completion of the training grant two-year commitment. Nominations for training grant positions are made by either the student’s advisor or the faculty advisor/sponsor in the case of postdoctoral nominations. Nominations include a description of the area of research, the cancer relevance, and an agreement that the student will fulfill the requirements of the training grant, detailed below. In most cases students should be in their second year or just achieved dissertator status to be considered for a training grant position. To assure that a broad research area is included amongst trainees, faculty members will generally not have more than one advisee on the grant.
Application forms are available on the Medical Physics intranet (Net ID login required). An example pre-doctoral nomination is provided for reference.
Appointment Requirements
More details on the requirements for trainees can be found in the T32 Trainee Handbook.
- Thesis research must be focused on the broad area of diagnosis, treatment, or treatment monitoring of cancer
- Trainees must have had, or be enrolled in, a course in cancer biology
- Trainees must have had*, or be enrolled in, a course in research ethics training (*within the past four years)
- Trainees must have had, or be enrolled in the Scientist Profession Training course in Medical Physics
- Trainees must participate in the annual Radiological Physics Training Grant symposium
- Trainees must participate (as it is convenient) in guest speaker lunches, round table discussions, receptions or other events hosted for them specifically
- Trainees must prepare a progress report each spring and a final report at the conclusion of the traineeship
- Authors of papers and theses must acknowledge partial support of the training grant in their publications
- Appointments will be a two-year commitment.
- Postdoctoral training includes preparing a K-series or an R series NIH grant application
Acknowledgement Requirements
Each publication, press release, or other document about research supported by an NIH award must include an acknowledgment of NIH award support and a disclaimer such as:
“Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T32CA009206. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.”
Prior to issuing a press release concerning the outcome of this research, please notify the NIH awarding IC in advance to allow for coordination.
Current Trainees and their Projects
Postdocs
| Name | Advisor | Project | Date Appointed |
| Dr. Alexander Remsik | Dr. Vivek Prabhakaran | Brain-Computer Interface in Brain Cancer Treatment | 11/14/2023 |
| Dr. Meltem Uyanik | Dr. Alan McMillan | Simultaneous PET/MRI of Diffuse Gliomas Using 68Ga-FAPI | 2/27/2023 |
Pre-docs
| Name | Advisor | Project | Date Appointed |
| Kendall Barrett | Dr. Jon Engle | Development of radio-labeled [5xMn]MnCl2 and [5xMn]Mangafodipir-Trisodium for dual-modality diagnostic imaging of pancreatic and liver cancer | 7/1/2023 |
| Taylor Johnson | Dr. Paul Ellison | Development of radiobrominated PARP inhibitor for the enhanced treatment of ovarian cancer, spanning all steps from cyclotron target creation to in vivo testing | 8/1/2024 |
| Jordan Teague | Dr. Bryan Bednarz | Developing 3D personalized dosimetry for Y-90 radioembolization therapy, namely investigating the impact of respiratory motion on SPECT-based 3D dosimetry for Y-90 liver treatment through phantom development, dose calculation comparison, and data-driven gating | 8/1/2024 |
| William Thomas | Dr. Brian Pogue | Examining Radiobiological differences in ASPC-1 Cancer cells under Ultra-high dose rate and Conventional Radiotherapy | 9/1/2023 |
| Lucky Volety | Dr. Ali Pirasteh | Development of Novel MRI Techniques for Focal and Whole Body Tumor Detection | 9/1/2023 |
| Hayley Whitson | Dr. Timothy Hall | In-Vivo Quantitative Ultrasound Scattering Measurements of Liver Steatosis Using Regularized Methods | 9/1/2023 |