Germany’s largest biomedical research centre on transactional cancer research

Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research center with a worldwide reputation of excellence in basic and translational cancer research. The strategic goals of the DKFZ are to contribute towards a better understanding of fundamental processes in cancer and to develop innovative methods of cancer diagnostics and therapy.

In the coming years, experts in bioengineering, cancer biology, and particle radiation therapy from DKFZ are developing an innovative technology that will allow daily tumour monitoring during radiation therapy to monitor calcium content and bone cancer regression of patients without any additional dose exposure.

While Prof. Joao Seco is overseeing the overall coordination of the BoneOscopy project, he and his DKFZ team are also creating 3D-printed bone phantoms of skeletal bone to simulate patient conditions and to assess these phantoms using micro-CT to measure their calcium content.

DKFZ has an in-house micro-CT that will be used to characterise the bone phantoms for calcium content. Micro-CT is considered the gold standard reference in characterising the mineral density of bone. Moreover, it is an alternative 3D imaging technique utilising X-rays to image small objects not much larger than a mouse. Micro-CT offers excellent spatial resolution for small objects providing researchers the opportunity to evaluate the morphology of a sample and study features such as porosity, structure, bone thickness, density, etc.

With DKFZ, BoneOscopy will revolutionise the treatment landscape for bone cancer by establishing a new standard of care!