Course program, A.Y. 2021-22


n Date Topics Linked slides and useful links
1 February 15th, 2022 Basics of radiation damage. Radiolysis of water and radiolytical species. Dynamics of water radiolysis. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). G values.
2 February 16th, 2022 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 22nd, 2022 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. Radiation damage to the constituents of cells. Direct and indirect damage.
4 February 23rd, 2022 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; oncogenes, tumor-suppressor genes, repair genes. The hallmarks of cancer. The tumor microenvironment. Mathematical models of carcinogenesis: a simple model of colorectal cancer. Peto's paradox.
5 March 4th, 2022 Cell death and cell survival curves. Biological endpoints. Simple two-phase model of tissues to illustrate therapy optimization.
The linear-quadratic (LQ) model. Target theory. Multitarget model. 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.
6 March 8th, 2022
 Therapy optimization, Tumor Control Probability and Normal Tissue Complication Probability. 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. The Equivalent Uniform Dose. Monte Carlo simulation for the optimization of treatment plans. Isodose curves. Dose-volume histograms. Radiotherapy in a wider context that embraces also chemotherapy and immunotherapy.


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