Dr. Marie-Catherine Vozenin

  Marie-Catherine Vozenin, PHD, HDR. is a French researcher born in 1972 in Ile De France, France.  She received a PHD in philosophy from the University of Paris XI in 1995.  She continued with her education at the University of Paris XI studying high dose rate radiation treatments until she graduated in 1999.  She currently works as the head of the radiobiology laboratory at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland where she is funded by Swiss and French research grants.  She is affiliated with the oncology department and is currently working on FLASH technology for cancer treatment.

FLASH radiation treatment is a process currently being tested in animals (and one human) that involves subjecting cancer cells to hundreds or thousands of times the normal dose of radiation, but in a fraction of the length of time.  That is, the amount of radiation is equal to that of normal radiation therapy in cancer patients, but rather than being treated in multiple doses, the entire procedure is over in less than a second.  Researchers are still analyzing why this seems to be more effective than traditional treatment methods at killing tumors while sparing healthy tissue.  Vozenin is one of the primary pioneers of the field.  This concept was originally studied decades ago, but research never progressed to clinical trials and it was eventually dropped as a field of study.  Vozenin and a co-worker gained access to technology that made the radiation treatments possible over a dozen years ago and decided to experiment with mice with lung cancer.  After publishing their results, the field has again gained momentum as a possible viable treatment option.

Sources:

https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.4631

https://prabook.com/web/marie-catherine.vozenin-brotons/367701 

https://appicon2018.com/speakers/marie-catherine-vozenin/