Interviews in Medical Physics

With our small series of video interviews, we would like to provide an insight into our research in the field of medical physics. We have tried to explain complicated facts and scientific research questions in such a way that they can be understood without prior knowledge. The videos are recorded either in German or English, but subtitles are available in both languages so that you can watch the videos without knowing German or English.

The selection of interviews mainly focuses on the field of medical physics in radiation therapy. In all interviews, reference is made to the schematic clinical workflow of radiation therapy (see figure) in order to better illustrate the area in which the respective research topic is located.

Two further introductory video lectures about medical physics in radiology as well as in radiooncology are available here.

Dr. Amit Bennan is a Postdoc in the research group Radiotherapy Optimization (headed by Dr. Niklas Wahl) in the Division of Medical Physics in Radiotherapy (head: Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel). As a postdoc, he is working on optimizing individual radiation treatment using mathematical algorithms.

In 2024, Christina Stengl completed her doctorate in the division Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology (head: Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel) in the research group Medical Engineering (head: Armin Runz) which she will defend in 2025. In her PhD thesis, she developed an anthropomorphic phantom (PPIeT - Pancreas Phantom for Ion beam Therapy) that can be used to simulate realistic organ movements. As a postdoc, she will continue her work in the research group Translation Research for Ion Beam Therapy (headed by Dr. José Vedelago) from 2025.

Evelyn Rauth was a Master's student in the division of Biomedical Physics in Radiation Oncology (Head: Prof. Dr. Joao Seco) until the end of 2024. During her Master's thesis, she worked with mini beams, a novel irradiation method. 

Michaela Schmitt is a doctoral student in the division of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology (Head: Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel). Her doctoral project is part of the research group Applied Medical Radiation Physics (Head: Prof. Dr. Christian Karger) and is oriented towards radiation biology, an interface between biology and physics. She is investigating the dose effect of different types of radiation in tissue. During her PhD project she works in the labs of the division of Radiooncology / Radiobiology (Head: Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h. c. Michael Baumann). 

Stefan Schmidt is a doctoral student in the division of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology (Head: Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel). He is writing his doctoral thesis in the research group Translation Research for Ion Beam Therapy (Head: Dr. José Vedelago). He is using passive detectors to make neutrons visible that are produced during irradiation.

Pamela Ochoa-Parra is a doctoral student in the research group Novel Detection Techniques for Ion Beams (headed by Dr. Mária Martišíková) in the division of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncolgoy (head: Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel). In her project, secondary radiation, which occurs during every irradiation, is used to monitor the dose distribution during irradiation.

Rebekka Kirchgässner and Margareta Metzner are doctoral students in the division of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology (Head: Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel). Their research projects are based in the research group Novel Detection Techniques for Ion Beams (headed by Dr. Mária Martišíková) and make radiation visible and use it to develop new imaging techniques.

Dr. Vanessa Franke is a postdoc in the division of Medical Physics in Radiology (Head: Prof. Dr. Mark Ladd). She is working in the NMR Spectroscopy and CEST Imaging research group (headed by Dr. Andreas Korzowski) on a technique called phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging, or 31P MRSI for short, which can be used to visualize additional biochemical parameters.