Course program, A.Y. 2018-19


Lesson Date Topics Linked slides and useful links
1 January 29th, 2019 Basics of radiation damage. Stopping power and LET. Radiolysis of water and radiolytical species. Dynamics of water radiolysis. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). G values.
2 January 30th, 2019 Radiosensitivity of different animal cells; the radiosensitivity of extremophiles. Broad classification of human cells. The main parts of a human cells. The sizes of biological objects from single molecules to the largest cells. Exercise: measurement of the replication time of a strain of leukemia cells.
3 February 5th, 2019 Basic information on the structure of DNA. The molecular structure of DNA. DNA replication. Coding and non-coding DNA. The genetic code. The meaning of the code: protein synthesis. The shape of proteins. Ribosomes.
4 February 6th, 2019 Radiation damage to the constituents of cells. Direct and indirect damage. The role of ROS; endogenous and exogenous ROS-related damage. The first line of defense: superoxide dismutase, catalase, etc.
The second line of defense: DNA repair mechanisms. Cell death in case of unrepaired damage. Mutations. Gene modifications linked to cancer; oncogens, tumor-suppressor genes, repair genes.
5 February 12th, 2019 The hallmarks of cancer. The tumor microenvironment. Mathematical models of carcinogenesis: a simple model of colorectal cancer. Peto's paradox.
Cell death and cell survival curves. Biological endpoints. The linear-quadratic (LQ) model. Target theory. Multitarget model.
6 February 13th, 2019 Conditions that influence the shape of the cell survival curve: RBE, OER, etc. Dose-response curves.
Use of the LQ model in radiation therapy. Tumor control probability. Normal tissue complication probability. Low-level radiation and radiation protection issues. Radiosensitizers. Fractionation. The Biologically Effective Dose (BED) and its modifications. The 4 R's of radiotherapy (... 5 R's). Simple examples of treatment schedules. Isoeffect and equivalent dose at 2 Gy.