Location: International Conference Center
Organizer: Glenn Knoll, University of Michigan, Fabio Sauli, CERN

GLENN FREDERICK KNOLL is Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at The University of Michigan. He earned a doctorate in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan. His research interests have centered on radiation measurements, nuclear instrumentation, and radiation imaging. He is author or co-author of over 200 technical publications, 7 patents, and 2 textbooks. He has served as consultant to 30 industrial and governmental organizations in technical areas related to radiation measurements. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Michigan.

FABIO SAULI studied at the University of Trieste where he got his PhD in Experimental Physics in 1965. His thesis work, prepared at CERN, describes the results of an experiment making use of optical spark chambers. From 1969 on he worked as Applied Research Physicist in the group of Georges Charpak. He has contributed to the development of numerous detectors: e.g., high accuracy drift chambers and imaging chambers. In 1997, he introduced a new concept in gas detectors: the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM). The technology has been widely used in many experiments. Several CERN patents cover the GEM operation and the applications for particle tracking and in biomedical fields, and licenses are being granted for commercial exploitation.

GIUSEPPE BERTUCCIO is Professor of Electronics at Politecnico di Milano and member of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics. He received the Laurea in Nuclear Engineering from Politecnico and since 1987 he joined the research group of Professor Emilio Gatti, contributing to the pioneering development of integrated electronics for Silicon Drift Detectors. In 1991 he was invited at Brookhaven National Laboratory and in 1993 at Canberra Industries to collaborate to R&D’s on low noise preamplifiers. His current research activities are in the design of CMOS and BiCMOS integrated circuits for radiation detectors signal processing and in GaAs and SiC X-ray detectors, collaborating with Alcatel Alenia Space, ESA, LPE and Selex. He is author or co-author of over 100 scientific and technical publications and 11 invited talks at international conferences.

This 2-day course provides an overall review of the basic principles that underlie the operation of the major types of instruments used in the detection and spectroscopy of charged particles, gamma rays, and other forms of ionizing radiation. Examples of both established applications and recent developments are drawn from areas including particle physics, nuclear medicine, homeland security, and general radiation spectroscopy. Emphasis is on understanding the fundamental processes that govern the operation of radiation detectors, rather than on operational details that are unique to specific commercial instruments. This course does not cover radiation dosimetry or health physics instrumentation. The level of presentation is best suited to those with some prior background in radiation measurements, but can also serve to introduce topics that may be outside their experience base. A copy of the textbook ’Radiation Detection and Measurement’, 3rd Edition, by G. Knoll and a set of course notes are provided to registrants.

Location: International Conference Center
Organizer: Lothar Strüder and Peter Lechner, Semiconductor Lab.; MPI for Physics and Extraterrestrial Physics, München

LOTHAR STRUEDER is a researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Munich (1987) and a Professor of Physics at the University of Siegen (2001). He is an expert in the development of Imaging X-ray detectors and applications of state-of-the-art semiconductor detector systems. Lothar Strüder has lead the MPI Semiconductor Laboratory (HLL) since 1990. This advanced laboratory provides silicon detectors for particle physics and X-ray astronomy not available commercially. The complete silicon technology of the HLL is adapted to the special requirements of semiconductor radiation detectors. Important features are in particular the ability to build wafer size defect free double sided detectors on ultra pure silicon.

PETER LECHNER earned his PhD in 1998 at the semiconductor laboratory of the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics and for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPI-HLL) in Munich/Germany. He joined the company KETEK and worked on the commercialization of Silicon Drift Detectors with integrated readout electronics developed and produced at MPI-HLL. Today he is with the company PNSensor and involved in several national and European R & D projects related to novel silicon detector concepts for photon science, medical imaging, and space instrumentation.

The measurement of ionizing radiation like optical photons, X- and –rays on one side and electrons, protons, or other massive particles on the other side is of great interest in many fields of basic science (e.g. astrophysics, high energy physics), applied science (e.g. material analysis, medical imaging, synchrotron research) and industrial science (e.g. X-ray fluorescence analysis, quality control, safety). Semiconductor detectors, in particular with the introduction of new concepts and principles have very strongly improved the measurement capabilities.

This half day course intends to review the basic physics of semiconductor devices used as detectors as well as for integrated electronics. A short treatment of further signal processing electronics will be given. Resulting implications for front-end electronics will be discussed. The basic physical limitations of the measurement precision will be derived from physical concepts. Special emphasis will be given to the physical limits of position resolution, energy resolution, time resolution, the quantum efficiency and the ’cleanliness’ of the spectra. Basic effects affecting the long-term stability under various experimental boundary conditions will be discussed.

The course will concentrate on pn-junction type detectors as single and double sided silicon strip detectors, pin and pad detectors, silicon drift detectors, charge coupled devices and active pixel sensors. The impact of those detectors on readout and data acquisition strategies will be derived from the intrinsic detector properties and the specific application and its primary measurement goal.

For all detector types examples of applications will be presented. A textbook (G. Lutz, Semiconductor Radiation Detectors, Springer) will be supplied and is part of the registration fee.

Location: International Conference Center
Organizer: Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

MARIA GRAZIA PIA is a high energy physicist working at CERN and the INFN. She is a skilled trainer in the application of Geant4 with valuable experience and knowledge in this field. She has provided considerable contributions to Geant4 physics design, development and validation, and is involved in various projects within Geant4. She is also active in the domain of technology transfer and software projects for Data Analysis.

Geant4 is a software toolkit for the simulation of the interaction of particles with matter, developed and maintained by a world-wide collaboration of physicists and computer scientists. Its application areas include high energy physics experiments, astrophysics and astroparticle physics, space science, medical physics and medical imaging, nuclear physics, radioprotection and radiation background studies. It exploits advanced software engineering techniques and Object Oriented technology to achieve transparency of the physics implementation, as well as openness to extension and evolution. Geant4 provides a wide set of tools for all the domains of detector simulation, such as Geometry modeling, Detector Response, Run and Event management, Tracking, Visualisation and User Interface. An abundant set of Physics Processes handles the diverse interactions of particles with matter across a wide energy range, as required by Geant4 multi-disciplinary nature; for many physics processes a choice of different models is available.

The Geant4 source code and libraries are freely available, accompanied by an extensive set of user documentation.

The course provides an overview of Geant4 capabilities, and illustrates in detail the major features available in the toolkit to simulate an experimental set-up. Specific lectures are devoted to Geant4 capabilities for medical applications. Finally, the students are guided through a real-life simulation example, offering a practical implementation of the basic concepts of a user application. As a result of the course the students would learn how to develop simulation applications based on the Geant4 Toolkit.

A CD with Geant4 source code and libraries, examples and further training material is distributed to all course participants.

To best profit from the course, some basic knowledge of the C++ computing language is recommended.

For more details of the course, see http://www.ge.infn.it/geant4/events/nss2008/geant4course.html

Location: International Conference Center
Organizer: Helmuth Spieler and Peter Denes, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

HELMUTH SPIELER is a Senior Physicist in the Physics Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the Technical University in Munich in 1974 and has worked in many areas of instrumentation, both as a user and a designer. Much of his instrumentation work has been on large-scale semiconductor detector systems and full custom ICs for high energy physics experiments at high-luminosity colliders. He has served on numerous review panels for major detectors in the U.S., Europe and Japan, both for ground and space-based experiments. He is internationally known for his tutorial courses on detectors and signal processing and is active in outreach projects with local high school science teachers. His current research includes superconducting bolometer arrays for cosmic microwave background experiments (South Pole Telescope, APEX-SZ, Polarbear), radiation-resistant detectors and electronics for the Super LHC (ATLAS), and detector systems for nuclear non-proliferation monitoring. He is the author of the book Semiconductor Detector Systems published by Oxford University Press.

PETER DENES is a Senior Engineer in the Engineering and Advanced Light Source Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in physics in 1984 from The University of New Mexico, and while with Princeton University spent many years at CERN working on electromagnetic calorimetry readout. At LBNL, he heads the integrated circuit design group, and has been involved in the development of various detectors for particle physics, electron microscopy and synchrotron radiation research.

Detectors come in many different forms, but sophisticated front-end electronics are a key part of practically all modern systems. Although the implementation of these detectors varies greatly, ranging from scintillators and wire chambers to silicon pixel devices and superconducting bolometer arrays, the readout systems share many common aspects.

This course introduces the basic principles, their implementation, and discusses examples of their application to various systems. It is directed towards engineers and physicists with a basic knowledge of electronics who wish to gain an understanding of detector electronics to effectively design or operate readout systems. The emphasis is on system requirements and practical realization, but the discussion will also address some specific aspects of circuit design, both with discrete components and in large-scale integrated circuits. Topics include signal acquisition with different detector types, electronic noise, pulse shaping (analog and digital), and data readout techniques. We will present examples of applications in nuclear and particle physics, astrophysics and astronomy, in medical imaging, and also discuss emerging techniques in electron microscopy and imaging systems for materials science and biology at synchrotron light sources. The course will conclude with a discussion of common pitfalls and how to avoid them. Course handouts include a copy of the book “Semiconductor Detector Systems”.

Location: International Conference Center
Organizer: Patricia Méndez Lorenzo and Jakub T. Moscicki, CERN

PATRICIA MENDEZ LORENZO earned her PhD in particle physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich in 2001. She has worked as researcher in the field of electron-positron annihilations with the OPAL detector at LEP, CERN. Now she is working on the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider LHC, as Information Technology Specialist from CERN/IT.

JACUB T. MOSCICKI is a researcher and software engineer at CERN. He graduated from AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland. He works on distributed computing systems for scientific applications including Monte-Carlo simulations and data analysis in high-energy physics, bio-informatics, medical physics and telecommunications. His research interests include usability and quality of service in large computing Grids and the enabling of large-scale applications in heterogeneous computing environments.

This course is intended to introduce the Grid technology to scientists and engineers with no experience in this field. Participants will gain practical skills on how to quickly make use of distributed computing resources for their applications. The class begins will an introduction to the Grid technology and an overview of existing Grid applications. A case study will show the details of a real medical Geant 4 simulation running on the Grid. Hands-on exercises will give practical experience with using the application oriented tools such as Ganga (http://cern.ch/ganga) and DIANE (http://cern.ch/diane) to support solving scientific problems. The participants will have an opportunity to get involved into using the Grid beyond the scope of the course and get further support for their applications.

Location: “The Westin Bellevue Dresden” Hotel
Organizer: Harrison Barrett, Matthew A. Kupinski, Lars R. Furenlid

HARRISON BARRETT received a Ph.D. in applied physics from Harvard in 1969. He is a professor in the College of Medicine and the College of Optical Sciences, and he has appointments in Applied Mathematics, Biomedical Engineering and the Arizona Cancer Center. In 1990 he was named a Regents Professor. He is a fellow of the Optical Society of America, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He has 22 U. S. patents and over 200 technical papers, and over 50 students have received Ph. D. degrees under his direction. His awards include a Humboldt Prize, the 2000 IEEE Medical Imaging Scientist Award, an E. T. S. Walton Award from Science Foundation Ireland, and the 2005 C. E. K. Mees Medal from the Optical Society of America. His current research is in image science, with applications in medicine and astronomy. He is director of the Center for Gamma-ray Imaging, an NIH-funded research resource that develops state-of-the art instruments for radiotracer studies of small animals. He is also active in developing new methods for the assessment and optimization of image quality and in applying parallel computers to tomographic imaging. In collaboration with Kyle J. Myers, he has written a book entitled Foundations of Image Science, which in 2006 was awarded the First Biennial J. W. Goodman Book Writing Award from OSA and SPIE.

MATTHEW A. KUPINSKI graduated from the University of Chicago in 2000. He is currently an Associate Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. His general research occurs in the fields of image science with the current emphasis being on medical imaging. Specific topics of interest are task based assessment of image quality for both tumor detection and parameter estimation tasks, understanding the statistical characteristics of images and the objects being imaged, imaging hardware optimization, and human-observer models for image analysis.

LARS R. FURENLID was educated at the University of Arizona and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is currently a Professor at the University of Arizona and associate director of the Center for Gamma-ray Imaging, with appointments in the Department of Radiology and the College of Optical Sciences. He is also a member of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Degree Program in Biomedical Engineering. Before moving to the University of Arizona, he was a staff scientist at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. His major research area is the development and application of detectors, electronics, and systems for biomedical imaging.

Multimodality imaging systems are used increasingly in clinical medicine in an attempt to get better diagnostic or scientific information by acquiring images depicting different aspects of the object, such as physiological and functional characteristics. A newly emerging methodology with similar goals is adaptive imaging in which an initial image of a particular subject is acquired and then used to modify the data-acquisition hardware or protocol for obtaining a second image from the same or a different modality. In this case the imaging process is necessarily nonlinear because the characteristics of the second system depend on the object being imaged.

Because the goal of both adaptive and multimodality imaging is to obtain better information about a patient, the proper measure of image quality is how well this information can be extracted from the whole set of image data by some observer. This approach, known as objective or task-based assessment of image quality, is well developed for single modalities and for linear , object-independent systems, but little has been done on applying it to adaptive and multimodality systems.

This course will review the basic principles of task-based assessment of image quality and discuss how they can be applied to adaptive and multimodality systems. It will cover the basic theory, hardware implementations, computational requirements and clinical applications. A tentative sequence of lectures is:

• Overview of multimodality imaging systems
• Introduction to adaptive imaging
• Principles of task-based assessment of image quality
• Task-based analysis of adaptive and multimodality systems
• Hardware considerations
• Data-analysis methods and computational requirements
• Applications

Location: “The Westin Bellevue Dresden” Hotel
Organizer: Michael Ljungberg, Medical Radiation Physics, Lund University
Assisted by: Robert Harrison (SIMSET), Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle; Sébastien Jan (GEANT4/GATE), Service Hospitalier; Frédéric Joliot, Orsay; Erik Larsson (MCNP), Medical Radiation Physics, Lund University, Lund  

MICHAEL LJUNGBERG is a professor at Medical Radiation Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. He received his B.S. in Radiation Physics 1983 and a Ph.D degree 1990. Dr. Ljungberg’s research profile is in nuclear medicine imaging with a special focus on mathematical modeling and problems related to quantitative imaging. He is the developer of the SIMIND Monte Carlo program that today is an internationally recognized program and used by many groups. His work has included developments of attenuation and scatter correction methods in SPECT and planar scintillation camera imaging, for special applications in radionuclide therapy dosimetry and treatment planning. He has also developed methods for 3D dosimetry (macroscopic as well as for small-scale animal models) using the EGS4 and MCNP4 Monte Carlo programs.

SEBASTIEN JAN, PhD, is a physicist at the French Atomic Commission (CEA - Service Hospitalier Frederic Joliot) in Orsay, France. He is currently the technical coordinator of the OpenGATE collaboration and is in charge of gathering the developments made by the members of the OpenGATE collaboration to produce new releases of the GATE Monte Carlo simulation software. He has contributed to the development and integration of many functionalities in GATE. He is also an intensive user of GATE, especially to simulate dynamic PET scans in small animals and humans. He has a great experience in running GATE on Linux platforms and on distributed architectures.

LARSSON ERIK, M.Sc, is a PhD student at Medical Radiation Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. He works mainly with the Monte Carlo codes MCNP5 and MCNPX to develop internal dosimetry models for radionuclide therapy. His research include small-scale dosimetry models of human tissues and small animal dosimetry. He has been working with the MCNP codes since 2003 and he is well acquainted with the creation of input files using mathematical geometries and Boolean operators as well as voxel based geometries.

ROBERT HARRISON, M.A., is a research scientist in the Department of Radiology at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. His research has focused on simulation and quantitative imaging techniques for emission tomography. He is currently heading the support and expansion of the SimSET package, an emission tomography simulation package widely used in industry and academia.

The Monte Carlo (MC) method has proven to be very useful to evaluate many fields related to Medical Imaging. One of the major applications has been to develop and validate different scatter correction methods for SPECT and planar scintillation imaging and to categorize the components building the image. The MC method is also useful when designing new instrumentations. Monte Carlo calculations are also very important in radiation dosimetry for both planning of individual treatments as well as forming the base for estimating the risk for late cancerogenic effects.

Today, several very competent programs are publicly available and have been validated extensively by many research groups. Because of the access to these programs, in house program developments are mostly not required. Nevertheless, a basic knowledge about the principles behind the method, potentials and pitfalls is usually required in order to properly set-up and evaluate a Monte Carlo study successfully.

Course outline:
This full-day course will cover the basics of the method regarding random numbers, basic sampling of interactions for photons and electrons as well as variance reduction methods. The recent developments of voxel-based software phantoms will also be covered. Detailed descriptions for public domain programs dedicated for photons (SIMIND and SIMSET) and for coupled photon and electron programs (GATE/GEANT4 and MCNP) will be given. Hands-outs will be included in the registration fee together with the book “Monte Carlo Calculation in Nuclear Medicine: Applications in Diagnostic Imaging”; eds. M. Ljungberg, S-E. Strand, and M.A. King; 1998 Bristol and Philadelphia, IOP Publishing.

Location: “The Westin Bellevue Dresden” Hotel
Organizer: Gerhard Kraft, Fine Fiedler, Wilma K. Weyrather

Gerhard Kraft studied Physics at Heidelberg and Cologne where he received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics. He founded the biophysics department at GSI where he developed the heavy ion tumor therapy together with Wilma K. Weyrather. She studied Physics at the University of Cologne and received her Ph.D. at the University of Giessen in Radiobiology in 1978. They both together initiated the Radiobiology program at GSI and later on the tumor therapy.

The novel features of the GSI tumor therapy are the extreme target conform beam delivery using an intensity modulated scanning method, the biology based treatment planning and the in vivo control of the patient using online-PET. In order to cover the target with a dose having a homogenous biological effect and a steep gradient at the borders the Target volume is dissected in slices of equal particle energy which are covered by a grid of 20,000 to 50,000 pixels of different beam positions. For all these pixels the individual covering of particles has to be calculated according to the wanted dose level and the actual value of the Relative Biological Effectiveness, RBE, at the specific pixel. These RBE values depend on the physical composition of the beam at each location and the biological properties of the affected tissue mainly on its repair capacity of complex DNA damage.

For the clinical success of the up to now more than 400 patients treated with this technique, the quality assurance of the technical equipment, the biological modelling for the treatment planning and the physical dose delivery are extremely important.

The biological corrections of the treatment planning are based on the Local Effect Model LEM verified in many experiments. It is also confirmed by the follow up of the treated patients that did not show large side and late effects. For the quality assurance of the beam delivery an online measurement of the emission of gamma quants have been developed and used during patient irradiation. When penetrating through the patient a significant fraction of the primary beam such as carbon or other ions under go nuclear reaction with the tissue resulting in radioactive positron emitting isotopes either from the beam such as ¹¹C  and ¹⁰C or from the target atoms such as ¹⁵O. Their positron decay can be monitored from outside and can be used to track the beam stopping inside the patient.

Fine Fiedler did her Ph.D. in 2008 at the Technical University of Dresden and studied the feasibility to monitor the stopping points of the beam inside the patients. She is working in the In-beam-PET group of the Oncoray Dresden. She will report that the PET techniques are capable assessing the relevant parameters for quality assurance in respect to anatomical landmarks. But it has been also shown that it is possible to extend this technique to other ion than carbon such as Protons, ³He, ⁷Li and ¹⁶O.

In general, the short course will introduce in the physical and biological rational of ion beam therapy. It will explain the critical feature in planning and beam delivery and will give the principles for quality assurance.

Location: “The Westin Bellevue Dresden” Hotel
Organizer: Paul Kinahan

PAUL KINAHAN’s research is focused on the data acquisition and processing for medical imaging using positron emission tomography (PET). PET imaging is used for both clinical diagnosis and for basic research in areas of neuroscience, oncology, and cardiology. Trying to improve the technology of PET imaging has generated some fascinating questions and problems. His projects include: Whole-body imaging for oncology, improving combined PET/CT scanners, image reconstruction algorithms for 3D imaging, image processing to incorporate PET images into therapy systems, and evaluations of image quality. Several of his developments are now included in commercial imaging systems. He collaborates closely with physicians and other researchers on the design of acquisition and processing methods for PET experiments.

The advances in SPECT and PET imaging have come with increased options in terms of image reconstruction, including a large number of statistical reconstruction algorithms and fully 3D reconstruction methods. This course will provide an orderly overview of the potpourri of reconstruction methods that have been proposed recently. Rather than advocating any particular method, this course will emphasize the fundamental issues that one must consider when choosing between different reconstruction approaches. The intended audience is anyone who would like to reconstruct ‘better’ images from photon-limited measurements, and who wants to make informed choices between the various methods. Both emission tomography and transmission tomography algorithms will be discussed.

Attendees should be familiar with photon-counting imaging systems at the level presented in the Medical Imaging short course offered in previous years.

Location:

OncoRay – Center for Radiation Research in Oncology Fetscherstrasse 74 PF 86 D - 01307 Dresden, Germany

Organiser: Jörg van den Hoff, Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
Assisted by A. Lammertsma, Amsterdam; A. Willemsen, Groningen; N. Leenders, Groningen; P. Maguire, Groton, USA; R. Carson, Yale, USA; R. Gunn, London; V. Cunningham, and W. Müller-Schauenburg, Tübingen

JÖRG van den HOFF is professor of positron emission tomography at the medical faculty of the Technical University Dresden and head of the Department of Positron Emission Tomography in the Institute of Radiopharmacy of the Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD). Prof. van den Hoff studied physics at the University of Bonn where he worked afterwards in nuclear spectroscopy (hyperfine interactions and g-factor measurements using perturbed angular correlation) and obtained his PhD in experimental nuclear physics in 1991. In 1991 he changed to the PET center in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Medical School Hannover. Here, he was mainly engaged in the development and implementation of quantification procedures for PET investigations using tracer kinetic models. In 1999 he obtained his postdoctoral lecture qualification (“Habilitation”) in Experimental Nuclear Medicine. In 2002 he took over his current position in Dresden. Besides the continuing interest in tracer kinetic modeling the group of Prof. van den Hoff is currently mainly working on algorithms and procedures for accurate list-mode based movement correction as well as reliable volumetric evaluation of PET investigations, especially for integration of PET into radiation treatment planning.

RICHARD CARSON graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1983. After spending more than 20 years at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, he joined Yale University in 2005, as a Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and Biomedical Engineering. He is also the Director of the Yale PET center and the section head of YALE PET imaging. 
His research uses Positron Emission Tomography (PET) as a tool to non-invasively measure a wide range of in vivo physiology in human beings and laboratory animals. He mostly focuses on the development and applications of new tracer kinetic modeling methods and algorithms and on research in PET image reconstruction and image quantification. A primary focus of his more biological applications is the measurement of dynamic changes in neurotransmitters. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers. The course aims at explaining the relevant techniques used for extracting quantitative information from positron emission tomography investigations.

This course has developed over the last 15 years, comprises substantial computer exercises (necessitating a rather large number of tutors) and provides a 100 pages manual. The course covers basic concepts such as permeability, extraction, blood flow, local blood volume, perfusion, volume of distribution, tracer principle, linear tracer kinetics, compartment modeling, parametric images and techniques for accelerating the computations (such as avoiding non-linear least squares fitting even if the model contains parameters in a non-linear way), receptor ligand techniques, etc.. Some of the techniques have more recently drawn attention for evaluating dynamic contrast enhanced CT or MRI investigations, thus the concepts and the mathematical techniques are of interest with respect to other tomographic techniques beyond PET as well.

Final Program: http://www.fzd.de/FWB/dgn/download/ppc_program.pdf