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Research Interests
Optics in medicine; biomedical imaging to guide cancer therapy; dose imaging in radiation therapy; Cherenkov light imaging
Education
- Bc, Czech Technical University 2008
- MSc, Czech Technical University 2010
- PhD, Biomedical Physics, Czech Technical University 2014
Awards
- Best-in-Physics Imaging Award for "3D Cherenkov sheet molecular imaging provides 100 micron whole body spatial resolution," American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Annual Meeting, 2017
Startups
Hypoxia Surgical LLC
Co-Founder and CTO
Co-Founder and CTO
Research Projects
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FLASH radiotherapy mechanisms
FLASH radiotherapy mechanisms
Ultra-high dose-rate (FLASH) radiotherapy has demonstrated the ability to spare normal tissue while maintaining tumor control, yet its biological mechanisms remain poorly understood. This research focuses on elucidating vascular and microenvironmental responses to FLASH irradiation using non-invasive optical coherence tomography (OCT). By longitudinally imaging tissue perfusion, microvascular structure, and recovery dynamics, this work aims to identify functional biomarkers that distinguish FLASH from conventional radiotherapy. These studies contribute to a mechanistic understanding of FLASH biology and support the development of clinically translatable imaging tools to guide treatment optimization.
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Exploring the role of oxygen in ultra high dose rate radiotherapy
Exploring the role of oxygen in ultra high dose rate radiotherapy
Ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) radiotherapy (RT) is an emerging cancer treatment that delivers high-energy beams (>40 Gy/s) to target tumors. Unlike conventional radiotherapy, which can damage healthy tissue, UHDR RT has been shown to spare normal tissue while maintaining tumor-killing effectiveness—a phenomenon known as the FLASH effect. The underlying mechanisms of this effect remain unclear. Our research focuses on investigating the role of oxygen in the FLASH effect using optical methods to measure tissue oxygen levels in real time during treatment.
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Scintillation dosimetry for quality assurance in radiotherapy
Scintillation dosimetry for quality assurance in radiotherapy
Radiation therapy is used to treat cancer tumors by killing the tissue with high ionizing radiation doses. Modern external beam radiotherapy systems deliver high dose levels to precisely marked tumor volume in less time. As a mis-administration can have potentially severe impact to the surrounding healthy tissue, more stringent and complex quality assurance measurements are required in clinics. By developing a comprehensive optical dose imaging camera system, we aim to fundamentally simplify the quality assurance process and, in turn, to further promote the culture of safety in radiotherapy. By converting the dose to visible light using scintillation phantom, we can image and reconstruct 3D dose maps in real time, enabling complete and accurate verification in a fast enough timeframe for it to be useful in every procedure.
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Cherenkov imaging in radiation therapy
Cherenkov imaging in radiation therapy
Radiation therapy is used to treat cancer tumors by killing the tissue with high ionizing radiation doses. Until recently it has not been possible to image the radiation dose delivered to tissue, but through Cherenkov light imaging, this delivered dose can be mapped with high resolution cameras. The research group focuses on quantification of the imaging, and developing tools which allow radiation therapy to be delivered in a safer and more validated manner.
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Fluorescence-guided surgery
Fluorescence-guided surgery
Fluorescence-guided surgery is important for the resection of some types of cancerous tumors where the tumor and normal tissue are similar in appearance and texture, and patient prognosis depends heavily on the completeness of resection. By selectively tagging tumor tissue with fluorescent dyes, it becomes possible to visually discriminate between normal and tumor tissues and improve significantly the completeness of tumor resection.
Selected Publications
- BW Pogue, J Feng, EP LaRochelle, P Brůža, H Lin, R Zhang, JR Shell, et al. Maps of in vivo oxygen pressure with submillimetre resolution and nanomolar sensitivity enabled by Cherenkov-excited luminescence scanned imaging. Nature Biomedical Engineering 2(4), 254, 2018.
- T Gorkhover, A Ulmer, K Ferguson, M Bucher, F Maia, J Bielecki, T Ekeberg, MF Hantke, BJ Daurer, C Nettelblad, J Andreasson, A Barty, P Brůža, et al. Femtosecond X-ray Fourier holography imaging of free-flying nanoparticles. Nature Photonics 12(3), 150, 2018.
- JD Koralek, JB Kim, P Brůža, CB Curry, Z Chen, HA Bechtel, AA Cordones, P Sperling, S Toleikis, JF Kern, SP Moeller, SH Glenzer, DP DePonte. Generation and characterization of ultrathin free-flowing liquid sheets. Nature Communications 9(1), 1353, 2018.
- P Brůža, SL Gollub, JM Andreozzi, II Tendler, BB Williams, LA Jarvis et al. Time-gated scintillator imaging for real-time optical surface dosimetry in total skin electron therapy. Physics in Medicine and Biology 63(9):095009, 2018.
- JM Andreozzi, KE Mooney, P Brůža, A Curcuru, DJ Gladstone, BW Pogue, O Green. Remote Cherenkov Imaging Based Quality Assurance of a Magnetic Resonance Image Guided Radiotherapy System. Medical Physics, 2018.
- P Brůža, JM Andreozzi, DJ Gladstone, LA Jarvis, J Rottmann, BW Pogue. Online Combination of EPID & Cherenkov Imaging for 3-D Dosimetry in a Liquid Phantom. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging 36(10), 2099–2103, 2017.
- P Brůža, H Lin, SA Vinogradov, LA Jarvis, DJ Gladstone, BW Pogue. Light sheet luminescence imaging with Cherenkov excitation in thick scattering media. Optics Letters 41(13), 2986–2989, 2016.
- P Brůža, D Pánek, M Vrbová, V Fidler, C Rose-Petruck. Spatial frequency heterodyne imaging in the soft x-ray water window. Applied Physics Letters 104(25), 254101, 2014.
- P Brůža, V Fidler, M Nikl. Table-top instrumentation for time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy of solids excited by nanosecond pulse of soft X-ray source and/or UV laser. Journal of Instrumentation 6(09), P09007, 2011.
