Nuclear Physics Seminars This Term

The concept of “spin” was invented in the first part of the 20^th century when it was realized that if we try to assign the angular momentum of an electron to a rotating ball, the surface of the ball would necessarily travel faster than the speed of light.  In quantum theory matter is separated into fermions and bosons by the spin-statistics theorem.  Fermions occupy space and are subject to the Pauli selection constraints.  In contrast,  Bosons can cohere into extended condensates.  In the gauge field theories of the Standard Model, bosons and fermions are closely connected by gauge invariance.  My talk will use several props in addition to slides to motivate two conjectures connecting magnetic charges to the small-distance behavior of gravity.

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Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal cancers with a five-year survival of 13%. Although Radiation Therapy (RT) plays a critical role in tumor control, its dual impact—stimulating anti-tumor T cell production while suppressing the immune system—presents a significant therapeutic challenge. Current national pancreatic protocols are oblivious to lymphopenia. We have analyzed a retrospective data set of 69 pancreatic non-SBRT patients. Maximum lymphocyte reduction from radiation treatment (RT) to pancreas could be as much as 78% from the pretreatment ALC value, including 81% with grade 3 lymphopenia and a nadir at day 35 following RT initiation. Currently there is no computational model to predict radiation induced immune suppression (RIIS) for pancreas that would allow the treatment team to optimize radiation therapy to minimize RIIS. To mitigate these effects, we developed a predictive algorithm for Radiation-Induced Immune Suppression (RIIS). This algorithm allows for a direct comparison of RT plans, identifying those that minimize immune suppression without compromising tumor-targeting efficacy. Additionally the impact of immune rich organ dose volumes on the overall survival could shed light on what immune rich organs, especially T cell rich should be spared and by how much. We have linked the overall survival calculations with organ specific static dose volumes to further select the impactful immune rich organ sparing. By automating the selection of constraints for immune system preservation, our approach offers a pathway to improved treatment personalization in RT clinics.

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