(September 21, 2015) A
groundbreaking piece of medical imaging technology that could revolutionise
cancer treatment will be featured as part of a showcase of 100 engineering
ideas that have changed our world.
A section of the PRaVDA instrument, developed at the
University of Lincoln, UK, for enhancing the treatment of cancer using proton
beam therapy, will be included in the Institution of Engineering and
Technology’s (IET) new show wall at its Savoy Place headquarters in London.
The IET is the largest professional engineering institution
in Europe and its show wall will be a celebration of engineering ideas that
have had the biggest impact on humanity. Other items on show include an
internal combustion engine, as designed by Karl Benz, and a mechanical
television system, which was masterminded by Logie Baird.
The international consortium of researchers behind the
PRaVDA (Proton Radiotherapy Verification and Dosimetry Applications) project is
led by the University of Lincoln’s Distinguished Professor of Image Engineering
Nigel Allinson MBE.
Funded by the Wellcome Trust, he and his multinational team
are developing one of the most complex medical instruments ever imagined to
improve the delivery of proton beam therapy in the treatment of cancer. The
advances they have made in medical imaging technology could make this type of
therapy a viable treatment for many more cancer sufferers.
The world-first technology developed by the team uses proton
beams to localise treatment, causing less damage to healthy tissue.
Professor Allinson, from the University of Lincoln’s School
of Computer Science, said: “It is an amazing honour for our work to be included
on the IET’s show wall, and to be up there with some of the all-time greats of
engineering innovation.”