The Particle Therapy MasterClass project, which provides school pupils with the chance to learn about how cancer can be treated with x-rays, protons or carbon ions, has this year held a series of special events to mark its fifth anniversary. 

The project was launched officially in 2020 after a development phase the year before, and has to date engaged 70 institutions from 38 countries, reaching over 1,500 high school students every year. 

The master classes involve lectures from particle therapy experts and give participants hands-on practice of designing treatment plans with a specially created software called MatRad. 

Many of the participants come from under-privileged backgrounds, with the course offering them their first real insight into the world of physics and particle therapy. With an average of about 60% of participants being young girls every year, the initiative also plays a significant role in promoting gender diversity in STEM fields.

The Particle Therapy Masterclass (PTMC) is a part of the International Physics Masterclasses, a well-established outreach educational activity and flagship project of the International Particle Physics Outreach Group, IPPOG. The initiative was set up by coordinator Yiota Foka from the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (GSI), in collaboration with CERN, the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) and contributions from students from the UNSA University of Sarajevo supported by the “Three Physicists Foundation”. 

PTMC’s impact on shaping careers

To mark the PTMC’s fifth anniversary, special events have been held this year highlighting the project’s impact and international reach. 

An online meeting was held on 31 March to celebrate the efforts and dedication of organisers and tutors around the world, among them accelerator experts. 

During this meeting, Azra Gazibegović-Busuladžić, head of doctoral studies at the UNSA Physics Department, highlighted the programme’s inclusive approach and growing impact, supported annually by local high-school teachers and university students.

One standout example that she shared was the participation of a highly engaged 14-year-old boy, notably younger than the target audience, motivated by his older sister who previously participated in PTMC, illustrating the masterclass’s accessibility and its power to spark early interest in science. 

Aristeidis Mamaras, a PhD student from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki currently based at CERN, spoke at the online meeting about how the PTMC deeply shaped his academic path. “Being part of the PTMC not only expanded my scientific knowledge,” he said, “but also changed how I see hadron therapy’s role in global healthcare.”

Mamaras had originally planned to focus his studies on nuclear physics, but the masterclass introduced him to medical applications of accelerators and led him to pursue a PhD at CERN. He emphasised that even small contributions can make a big difference and encouraged others to join this project and help expand its impact, in particular in developing countries.

Nermine Muradi from the University of Tetova in North Macedonia told the meeting’s participants that the PTMC influenced the choice of her master thesis topic. She expressed her gratitude at being a member of the core organisers team and the enthusiasm of some 200 high school students that participate every year to the PTMC at her home institute.

She also took the chance to thank Foka, the international coordinator of the PTMC programme and the person who drove its initial creation, saying that “Foka’s will, personal commitment and approach towards all participants, especially to those coming from developing countries, has shaped the last five years of the PTMC and made it one of the most requested events in certain countries.” 

PTMC’s adaptability takes it to wider audiences

Aside from the online meeting, a special PTMC session dedicated to CERN personnel was held on 20 June, giving members of the institute the chance to learn more about the potential of accelerator-based cancer treatment. There were around 30 participants in total. 

On 28 June, a special full-day, in-person PTMC session for teachers took place at Oxford University in the UK. The goal was to teach the teachers how to use the PTMC software so that they can pass this on to their pupils, giving further reach to the project. A total of 50 teachers from around the UK attended the course, with 40 attending in-person.  

In another event, a full-week PTMC course was organised by the ESF Sha Tin College in Hong-Kong.

The PTMC is continuing to expand and develop, with one of its main advantages being its flexibility. “We encourage  organisers[YF1]  to adapt the course according to their context and facilities to promote inclusion and diversity, especially for students who have never had the opportunity to participate in such activities,” said Foka. “It is also an opportunity for teachers to illustrate the direct impact of fundamental research, a topic that in most countries is not part of the curriculum.”

The first ever session of the PTMC took place on 2 March 2020, in Mexico, at nearly the exact moment that the COVID-19 pandemic began. For this reason, the course was adapted for online participation, and it is in part this element that made it so flexible and has allowed the initiative to reach thousands more students than was initially expected. 

One of the most common pieces of feedback Yiota hears from participants is their surprise to learn that physics has real, life-changing applications. “They often say, ‘we could not imagine what physics has to do with medicine, nor that fundamental physics research institutes can contribute to medical applications and cancer treatments’,” Foka said. 

The PTMC project was developed by GSI in collaboration with CERN and DKFZ. It is coordinated and moderated by GSI with contributions from the CNAO hadron therapy centre and numerous I. FAST and HITRIplus collaborators. This core team represents the world leading research institutes in their domains that also provided tangible applications for health: at GSI the first patients in Europe were treated with carbon ions, DKFZ is the German Cancer Research Centre next to the HIT Heidelberg Ion Therapy facility; and at CERN the Proton-Ion Medical Machine Study PIMMS design team was hosted, in the 90s, which resulted in the CNAO facility in Italy.