On March 18, 2022 one of the events of the second Italian edition of the "International Masterclasses - Particle Therapy", will be held in Milano. This is a training event promoted by the IPPOG (International Particle Physics Outreach Group) on the model of the International Masterclasses in Particle Physics. These Masterclasses take place in 60 countries, with the participation of more than 13000 secondary school students. They aim at bringing students closer to physics applications to medicine through the treatment of cancer using both conventional radiotherapy and hadrontherapy, and to show them the importance of fundamental research and its direct impact on society. This branch of science uses the knowledge acquired on the properties of particles, the techniques to accelerate them and the mechanisms of interaction with matter, applying them for the benefit of human health.
The event carried out in 2021 by the two pilot INFN Section of INFN of Milan and the Physics Department of the University of Milan and by the group of the INFN of Frascati in Cosenza and the University of Cosenza met with great interest and this year it involves also the INFN Sections of Pavia, Pisa and Turin in collaboration with the respective Universities.
In Milan, the initiative will involve 20 students of the last year of secondary school of selected schools of the Lombardy Region, who will be welcomed at the Computing Laboratory of the Department of Physics of UNIMI.
In the morning the students will attend the introductory seminars and will take a virtual visit of the Adrotherapy Center - CNAO of Pavia.
In the afternoon they will be involved, under the supervision of students of the Health Physics Path as tutors, in the creation of a treatment plan making use both of traditional radiotherapy with photon beams and of hadrontherapy, using the professional research software, matRad, developed by the German Cancer Research Center DKFZ in Heidelberg, Germany and adapted to this experience.
The day will end with the virtual meeting at CERN of all the students of the other Institutes and / or Universities of the different foreign countries where the event takes place simultaneously.
You will find more details at the link:
https://agenda.infn.it/event/29919/
The activity carried out by students during the "Particle Therapy MasterClasses 2022" event can be recognized among those of the PCTO, for a number of hours equal to eight.