New era of cancer research

UNIQUE research carried out at the Daresbury Laboratory, near Warrington, is set to trigger a new era in research into cancer diagnosis and the understanding of how living things function.
Scientists from the University of Liverpool are linking up to Europe’s most intense terahertz light source at Daresbury’s ALICE accelerator, with its state-of-the-art tissue culture centre and beamline, to understand the effects of terahertz (THz) rays on human cells.
This improved understanding of human cells could eventually lead to significant advances in human development and the understanding of diseases, including melanomas and oesophageal cancer.
THz rays lie between microwaves and infrared light in the electromagnetic spectrum. THz light already has proven applications in both security devices and medical imaging and is already being used to detect hidden explosives, concealed weapons and drugs.
Unlike traditional X-rays, terahertz radiation is considered intrinsically safe, in that it is non-destructive and non-invasive to human cells. However, scientists do not yet know what the safe upper limits for human exposure to this radiation are. A deeper understanding of THz rays’ impact on living tissue will enable a new generation of medical and security imaging devices to be developed and used safely.
Dr Mark Surman, a research scientist at Daresbury said: “With ALICE we have an opportunity to irradiate living cells in a way that has never been done before, combining a high power source with a tissue culture facility.
“We expect to see about 70 kW of peak power in short pulses repeated tens of thousands of times every second. This means that the peak power will be thousands of times higher than other laboratory sources.
“Until now, ultra-high THz power sources have not been available to carry out this kind of research, so it is a major step forward that these trials on tiny samples of human tissue can now be carried out at ALICE.”
ALICE is a prototype for the next generation of accelerator-based light sources, and is based upon an unusual mode of operation for accelerators, known as energy recovery, where the energy used to create its high energy beam is captured and re-used after each circuit of the accelerator for further acceleration of fresh particles. This mode minimises the power needed to accelerate the beams, which at maximum level would otherwise require a small power station to operate. ALICE is the first accelerator in Europe to operate in this way.