
Medical physicists are involved with the application of medical physics principles and techniques for prevention, treatment and diagnosis of cancer and the protection of the patients, staff and members of the public from ionizing and non-ionizing radiation hazards (More information).
At Institut Jules Bordet, the organizational structure of the Medical Physics Department integrates 4 specialities: Radiotherapy, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Engineering. Overall, the Medical Physics Department is composed of 25 members, from which 15 physicists with an official recognition as medical physics expert (MPE via FANC accreditation). Every medical physicist is employed as a member of the Medical Physics Department and seconded to another department to perform specific and clearly defined tasks. This integrated organization facilitates inter-department clinical collaborations, allows multidisciplinary approaches and joined research project developments.
Radiotherapy
The medical physicist has the responsibility to accept, commission and regularly control the performance of radiotherapy equipment: linear accelerators, imaging equipment for treatment simulation (CT, PET-CT, MRI), treatment-planning systems. Together with the dosimetrists, they optimize and calculate the dose of radiation that will be delivered to the contoured structures to make sure that the tumor gets sufficient radiation to destroy it while sparing the normal tissues. Medical physicists have a pivotal role in :
- individualization of the treatments through adaptive radiotherapy
- optimization, validation and implementation of functional imaging
- setting up the MR-LINAC facility
- use of advanced methods for handling big-data to develop and validate predictive models in the actual personalized medicine scenario
Engineering
The role of the engineering team is the provision of the daily engineering service requirements to all three departments. To provide a fast and efficient response in the event of equipment breakdown and to ensure that communication and archiving workflows are operational. Another clinical task is to perform regular quality control checks to assure quality of the x-ray and electron beam output.
Nuclear Medicine
The nuclear medicine physicist provides assistance with the physical aspects of any new applications for nuclear medicine. It is a subfield in medical physics that pertains to:
- the therapeutic and diagnostic applications of radionuclides
- the equipment associated with their production, use, measurement and evaluation
- the quality of images resulting from their production and use
Radiology
Medical physicists in radiology have a leading role in the strategic planning, testing, safe use, and optimization of advances in medical imaging technologies and techniques.
The Department of Medical Physics is recognised for the clinical training of Medical Physics Experts by the FANC in radiotherapy and nuclear medicine. The department welcomes 2 to 3 physicists or engineers yearly to perform their 12 months internship to get their national accreditation.
The department is hosting other internships and master’s thesis students in collaboration with the Nuclear Metrology department and the LISA in ULB, as well as from ISIB, ESI, or IEPSCF.
Research projects
30/01/2025
Project 1
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPLIED TO LU177-PSMA TREATMENT OF PROSTATE CANCER
(Projet PhD de Thomas Guiot)
Project 2
Molecular Radionuclide Therapy (MRT) with 177Lutecium
(Projet PhD de Rachele Danieli)
Project 3
D-Caf MecaTech Project: Monte Carlo simulations to determine correction factors for new detectors developed by IBA (specifically for proton VMAT, Flash, and carbon ion treatments)
(Projet PhD de Guillaume Houyoux)
Project 4
Implementing new dose calculation methods with AI for real-time dose calculation for the MRI Linac.
(Projet Elekta de Kévin Brou Boni)
Project 5
Project Minora: The introduction of the Radiotherapy workflow using MRI only images
(Projet Siemens de Akos Gulyban)
Project 6
Optimisation of breast cancer radiotherapy through the use of multi-institutional big data and the application of advanced Artifical Intelligence techniques
(Projet PhD de Zineb Smine )
Project 7
Artificial Intelligence and multi-omics data to allow safe systemic treatment de-escalation in early breast cancer
(Projet PhD Yin Tuo)
Project 8
Assessing the Accuracy of Current 4DCT Imaging Protocols: A Multi-Institutional Study
(Project of Manuela Burghelea)
Project 9
Modelling of the dose-response for nephrotoxicity in preclinical targeted radionuclide therapy with 161Tb and 177Lu radiolabeled peptides
(Projet PhD de Michelle Andersson)
Project 10
Patient-specific QA sensitivity and actually delivered dose
(Projet Sarah Poeta et Younes Jourani)
Project 11
Selective Internal Radiotherapy through Transarterial Radioembolization with Y90 or Ho166 Microsphere: Development of Personalized Dosimetry
(Projet PhD de Benoit Collette)
Project 12
Preclinical study of the radiobiological obstacles limiting the optimal clinical transition of the FLASH effect in radiotherapy
(Projets PhD Nina Blond, Coralie Destrebecq)
Project 13
Development of new theranostic vectors for personalised neutron capture therapies
(Projet PhD Eloise Rapport)
Projet 14
Preventing Radiotherapy Osteoradionecrosis Through ExtraCellular vesicles Technology (PROTECT)
(Projet PhD de Marie-Eugénie de Meester)
Projet 15
Projet Européen HORIZON-JU-IHI Accelerate.eu
(Coordinateur: Hugo Levillain; Projet Physique Médicale, Médecine Nucléaire et CTC du HUB)
Projet 16
Projet Européen HORIZON-JU-IHI Thera4care
(Coordinateur: Hugo Levillain; Projet Physique Médicale et Médecine Nucléaire du HUB)
The team
- Reynaert Nick, MPE, Head of the Medical Physics department
- Simon Stéphane, MPE, Associate Head of the Medical Physics department, responsible for GammaKnife, IORT, brachytherapy and TBI
- Levillain Hugo, PhD, Head of Research and Development
Radiotherapy
- Jourani Younes, MPE, Head Medical Physicist in Radiotherapy
- Burghelea Nicoleta Manuela, MPE, main focus on CTsim, DIR and functional imaging
- Carraro Federica
- Gulyban Akos, MPE, main focus on MRI for RT
- Martins Ferreira Angela Sofia
- Nana Kenwa Gaelle
- Paquier Zelda, MPE, PhD student in Medical Physics
- Poeta Sara, MPE, main focus on DIR and dose accumulation
- Rodriguez Garcia Diana, MPE, main focus on SGRT and QC-QA
- Sonia Sobczak, MPE, main focus on FilmDosimetry, BrachyTherapy and Commissioning
- Vandekerkhove Christophe, MPE, main focus on QC-QA, Brachytherapy and IORT
Nuclear Medicine
- Vanderlinden Bruno, MPE, Head Medical Physicist in Nuclear Medicine
- Marin Clémentine, MPE, main focus on image processing
- Collette Benoit
- Danieli Rachele
- Trotta Nicola
Radiology
- Michiel Dehairs, MPE, main focus on CT and MRI
- Gomes Leitao de Azevedo Daniel Ricardo, MSc, main focus on CT
Engineering
- Guiot Thomas, Ir.,MSc, Head of Engineering
- Abdelkrim Zakariae, technician, main focus on QA-QC
- El-Hamdi Abdelhafid, technician, main focus on QA-QC
- Kert Fabian, technician, responsible for 3D printing
- Ez-Zyouy Youssef
- Joly Anhony
- Laaroussi Rachid
DataScience
- Brou-Boni Kévin
- Dhont Jennifer
Administration
- Planchon Muriel, Personal Assistant Prof. Nick Reynaert and team assistant.
04/01/2024