MSc Medical Physics in Cancer Radiation Therapy / Course details

The unit will provide the students with the following knowledge and practical skills:

• Key concepts in radiobiology, including how radiotherapy kills cells, dose rates, LET, and RBE.
• Biological effects underpinning radiotherapy, such as DNA damage biological pathways for example: DDR (DNA damage response), DNA repair, cell cycle regulation, senescence, cell death.
• How we measure radiotherapy effects in the laboratory (e.g. damage markers, clonogenic assay).
• The 6Rs as a framework for radiobiology, including Reoxygenation, Repopulation, Redistribution, Radiosensitivity, Repair, and Reactivation of immune response.
• Key concepts in clinical radiotherapy, such as fractionation and novel scheduling approaches, the linear quadratic model, dose rate effects, TCP vs NTCP, systemic effects and abscopal effect.
• How the response to radiotherapy can be predicted based on biological and clinical parameters (biomarkers and radiogenomics).
• How the response to radiotherapy can be enhanced (radiosensitisers).
• Brief introduction to the biology of radionuclides vs external beam radiotherapy.
• Interpretation and critique of radiobiological data.

This unit aims at providing the students with key concepts in radiobiology, both from a fundamental science point of view, as well as their clinical application.

Students will be able to understand how radiotherapy kills cells and how the clinical responses to radiotherapy can be altered by changes in biological conditions, key concepts in clinical radiotherapy and fractionation, and how the response to radiotherapy can be predicted and modulated based on biological and clinical parameters.

Students will also develop skills regarding critique and interpretation of radiobiological data from relevant publications.

The following learning and teaching processes will be utilised: Classroom based teaching, formative assessments, tutorial sessions, ad-hoc Q&A session to support summative assignment, on-line resources, independent study.

Students should/will be able to:

• Understand the principles of how radiation impacts DNA integrity to kill cells.
• Analyse and appraise how the 6Rs of radiobiology underpin the principles of radiobiology.
• Evaluate the biological and clinical rationale for fractionation in radiotherapy.

Students should/will be able to:

• Critically discuss radiobiological principles which underpin the concept of the therapeutic window between normal and tumour tissue.
• Evaluate and discuss different approaches to predict radiotherapy response.
• Evaluate different radiosensitising approaches.

Students should/will be able to:

• Analyse and interpret literature and data relevant to radiobiological assays.

Students should/will be able to:

• Critically discuss literature and complex data for the study of cellular and clinical radiobiology.

Summative 1: 40%

Journal club and presentation, to be marked by the unit lead and another member of the teaching team. Students will be provided with peer-reviewed original article published in the field of radiobiology. Students will work in groups and present parts of a radiobiology paper, using a critical appraisal approach.

They will be evaluated on presentation clarity, content, style, and use of critical thinking.

Summative 2: 60%

Students will be provided with a 2nd radiobiology paper. Students will be required to critically appraise the article, examining the article for form, clarity, rational design, scientific content, data integrity, reliability, and the derivation of evidence-based conclusions.

Students will receive feedback against the defined marking criteria, provided at the start of the unit in the VLE.

Study hours:

Lectures; Tutorials; Seminars; Workshops - 28 hours

Independent study - 122 hours