UWA Medical Physics Blog

Yearly Archives: 2014

A new program to help medical physicists working with linacs, Mountaingoat is an executable that does basic analysis on dynamic log files produced by Varian MLC systems. Mountaingoat was compiled in MATLAB 2012b and requires MATLAB Compiler Runtime (MCR) V8.0 in order to run. Mountaingoat was developed by Jeremy Hughes, Masters student in medical physics, and is available on the UWA e-resources page.Read more…

 

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Prof. Tim St Pierre is back from his IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecturer tour, and will give a final lecture here at UWA: “Magnetic Materials in Medicine: Applications in Diagnosis, Management, and Treatment of Disease” Prof. Tim St Pierre, 2014 IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecturer 5:30 pm, Monday, 15th December Webb Lecture Theatre, Geology &Read more…

 

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The Western Australian Department of Health has established a scholarship fund for the purpose of encouraging students with a strong desire to develop a career in radiation oncology medical physics. The demand for medical physicists specializing in radiation oncology is growing in Western Australia as the government seeks to expand cancer treatment services in theRead more…

 

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Congratulations to Prof. Tim St Pierre and Research Assoc. Prof. Mike House, whose work in collaboration with Resonance Health Ltd. won the company the WA Innovator of the Year Overall Winner award for their HepaFat-Scan technology. This innovative technology provides a non-invasive measurement of human liver fat concentrations. News: Resonance Health – 2014 WA Innovator of the Year Overall Winner PerthRead more…

 

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Welcome home to Prof. Tim St Pierre, who recently completed the American leg of his IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecture tour. While visiting the Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Tim photographed this historical piece of physics: magnets from the original Stern-Gerlach experiment. This experiment provided evidence that the spatial orientation of an atom’s magnetic moment is quantised.     Find out more aboutRead more…

 

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The NHMRC have generously provided $535,000 in support of a research project being coordinated by Prof Martin Ebert. The project focuses on the use of radiotherapy for treating prostate cancer, where questions need to be answered regarding the relationship between radiographic identification of the prostate organ, the role radiotherapy treatment planning has in targeting theRead more…

 

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The Photography in Medical Physics competition, hosted by ACPSEM, highlighted some of the visually exciting aspects of medical physics. Among the photographic subjects were ferrofluids from our BioMagnetics Research Group. Ferrofluids are liquids containing nanoparticles of magnetic material. They can be used in medical applications such as targeted drug delivery and magnetic hyperthermia (heat treatment).     Find out more about the program inRead more…

 

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Congratulations to Blake Segler, PhD student, who competed last week in the Finals of the UWA Three Minute Thesis competition. Blake’s talk, “A Vessel of Hope,” explains his research in medical physics.       Find out more about the program in our website (Courses, Projects, Students, Available jobs, …) How to apply for UWA Medical Physics Postgraduate Program  Read more…

 

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Coming up next month is the final Radiation Oncology Workforce WA CPD event for the year, which will feature presentations of small grant research projects, keynote speakers and workshops. 1 November, 2014 8:45 am – 3:15 pm Curtin University Further details     Find out more about the program in our website (Courses, Projects, Students, Available jobs, …)Read more…

 

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Hi, my name is Colm Morrison, I’m a postgraduate student at UWA studying a Master of Science in Medical Physics, and I’m going to tell you a little bit about my experience in the Medical Physics MSc program. I enrolled in the program in 2012 after reading an article in a state health department liftoutRead more…

 

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Prof. Tim St Pierre’s Distinguished Lectures continue in the Americas. Here is a list of Tim’s finalised tour dates before he returns to Perth.     Find out more about the program in our website (Courses, Projects, Students, Available jobs, …) How to apply for UWA Medical Physics Postgraduate Program  

 

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Come along to the UWA Postgrad & Honours Expo to learn more about UWA’s postgraduate course in medical physics. There will be an overview presentation of physics courses from 5:15 – 6:00pm in the Agriculture Lecture Theatre. Date: Wednesday 24 September 2014 Time: 4.00pm to 7.00pm Venue: Bayliss Building and nearby lecture rooms     Find out more about the program in ourRead more…

 

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The meeting of Australian and New Zealand Medical Physicists was this year combined with the annual meetings of the Australasian radiography and radiology communities at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. UWA Medical Physics was represented by PhD students Calyn Moulton and Azrul Yahya, together with A/Prof Pejman Rowshan Farzad and Prof Martin Ebert whoRead more…

 

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Well done to the UWA Medical Physics team who volunteered at the Cancer Council’s Daffodil Day Street Appeal on 22 August 2014. The event raised awareness and funds for cancer research, education and support programs.     Find out more about the program in our website (Courses, Projects, Students, Available jobs, …) How to apply for UWA Medical Physics Postgraduate ProgramRead more…

 

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New to Perth, CyberKnife was first used here in April to treat patients. The radiotherapy treatment process requires a team of medical physicists, radiation therapists and doctors.  First the patient receives MRI or CT scans, on which the doctor outlines the target volume of the tumour. For the particular case the doctor decides whether CyberKnife is an appropriate technology. The doctor prescribes aRead more…

 

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Installed recently at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and in the past year at Curtin University, VERTTM is a virtual radiation therapy system. Simulating a machine used in radiotherapy treatments, the linear accelerator, VERT allows students to learn in a virtual, 2D or 3D setting before spending invaluable time on a real machine. Those studying medical physics and radiation therapy will have more opportunities forRead more…

 

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“CLEAR Study, an initiative of Cancer Council NSW, is an open access resource for cancer research studies. The CLEAR Study has collected data from over 10,000 people with and without cancer to provide a better understanding of the genetic and environmental causes of cancer in NSW. This information is available to the cancer research communityRead more…

 

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Applications are invited from students studying disciplines related to cancer control (including biological science, medicine, behavioural science or public health) for a scholarship to conduct research relating to cancer during the coming summer months. The James Crofts Hope Foundation (JCHF) Vacation Scholarship will be offered again this year.  This scholarship will be awarded to aRead more…

 

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Come along to the UWA Open Day to learn more about the university, including study, research and student life. We will run demonstrations of medical physics and biomagnetics in the atrium of the School of Physics. When: Sunday, 10 August 2014, 10 am – 4 pm Where: The University of Western Australia     Find out more about the program in ourRead more…

 

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Today we have a guest post from Ryan Begley, a UWA physics undergraduate student who worked with the medical physics group during the university break. Over the university vacation I undertook a 5 week internship with the Medical Physics Research Group. My supervisor, Professor Martin Ebert, found a great project for me that was interesting andRead more…

 

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Last week we visited Hollywood Primary School, our CSIRO Scientists in Schools partner, to share our work on medical physics.  Students from years 4-7, as well as year 2, learnt how science is applied in medicine. They discovered how medical physicists help people via imaging, treatment and safety. The students identified fruit and vegetables from MRI scans; watched brain activity change with visual stimulationRead more…

 

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This week in Sydney representatives met from the Medical Physics University Network. The network is comprised of each of the six Australian universities that offer postgraduate programs in medical physics. Among the subjects of discussion were continued development of a resource network, a pilot program in course-sharing, virtual training and research interactions. The collaborative work continues to support the development and capacity of the medicalRead more…

 

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Following the first leg of his IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecture tour in Asia, Prof. Tim St Pierre has been presenting his talk in Europe. He recently embarked on his tour in the UK.     Find out more about the program in our website (Courses, Projects, Students, Available jobs, …) How to apply for UWA Medical Physics Postgraduate Program  

 

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The ViewRay (TM) system, which provides the world’s first MRI-guided radiation therapy, enables clinicians to track the patient’s internal anatomy in real time whilst simultaneously administering radiotherapy treatment. Guided by MRI images, the radiation beams are kept on target, yet without additional markers or exposure to ionising radiation. A presentation on the ViewRay (TM) system will be held in Perth: 10:30 am, 20 June, 2014 MeetingRead more…

 

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In Hsinchu City, Taiwan, Prof. Tim St Pierre presented his IEEE Distinguished Lecture at the ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute) and National Tsing Hua University.  ITRI is a non-profit centre for research and development.  The exciting work at this organisation focusses on innovation and next-generation technology. At National Tsing Hua University Tim met with Prof. Chih-Huang Lai, who leads theRead more…

 

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The 2014 ACPSEM WA Branch annual scientific meeting is coming up on Saturday, 19 July, at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.  Abstract submission is now open, and closes on 27 June.       Find out more about the program in our website (Courses, Projects, Students, Available jobs, …) How to apply for UWA Medical Physics Postgraduate Program    Read more…

 

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Scholarships are available for students interested in attending the 2014 Combined Scientific Meeting (CSM), CSM 2014: Imaging and Radiation in Personalised Medicine.  The conference will be held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from 4-7 September, 2014.  Applications for the ACPSEM Student Scholarship 2014 close 20 June 2014.       Find out more about the program in our website (Courses, Projects,Read more…

 

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Continuing his tour in China, Prof. Tim St Pierre presented two IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lectures in Hong Kong.  At The University of Hong Kong he had discussions with Prof. Philip Pong, Chairperson of the IEEE Magnetics Society Hong Kong Chapter, who works on magnetoresistive magnetic field sensors and applications in smart grids and nano-biotechnology. Tim’s second lecture was atRead more…

 

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Prof. Tim St Pierre gave his first IEEE Distinguished Lecture in China at Tsinghua University.  His host was Prof. Dan Wei, whose research interests lie in applied magnetics; there in Beijing he also met Dr Lingyun Zhao, whose work in biomagnetics is on magnetic hyperthermia. Next Tim spoke about biomagnetics and its biomedical applications at Nanjing University, where his visit was hostedRead more…

 

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Prof. Tim St Pierre’s IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lectures continued in Korea, where he presented at Chonbuk National University, the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources and Korea University. Tim also found another early example of “medical physics”.  He writes, “After giving my Distingushed Lecture presentation at Cheonbuk National University, I visited the Herbal Medicine Museum in the traditional Jeonju HanokRead more…

 

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Prof. Tim St Pierre gave his second IEEE Distinguished Lecture at Chuo University in Tokyo.  There he met with the IEEE Magnetics Society Tokyo Chapter.  It was a biomagnetics-flavoured event, with the group hosting on the same day Prof. Balachandran Jeyadevan (School of Engineering, The University of Shiga Prefecture), who gave a lecture entitled, “Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia: Challenges and Future ProspectsRead more…

 

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The first CyberKnife system in Australia, installed at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, was in the news last week with a government media statement and several media reports.  This follows upon the first treatments with the machine two weeks ago.  We will have further details in a future post. Cancer busting robot installed in Perth hospital Cyberknife $9 million CyberKnife unveiled at Sir CharlesRead more…

 

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Following the ANZSNM Annual Scientific Meeting in Adelaide this weekend, the WA Branch of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine invite you to attend a presentation by one of the conference speakers here in Perth. “68Ga – replacing 99mTc soon?” Associate Professor Clemens Decristoforo, Radiopharmacist, Innsbruck Medical University, Austria. Seminar Room G24, Harry Perkins Institute ofRead more…

 

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The Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) WA Branch will hold this year’s annual symposium on 4 June at Edith Cowan University.  Registrations and online abstract submissions are now open!     Find out more about the program in our website (Courses, Projects, Students, Available jobs, …) How to apply for UWA Medical Physics Postgraduate Program  

 

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Prof. Tim St Pierre presented his first IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecture at Tohoku University in Sendai.  Here is Tim’s description of his adventures, including photos of an early “medical physics” device, the magnoscope (an electrical stethoscope). I visited the Research Institute of Electrical Communication at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. I met with Associate Professor Simon Greaves who showed meRead more…

 

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Today’s UWA home page and UWA media statement feature work by Tim St Pierre and the BioMagnetics Group on magnetism in medicine.     Find out more about the program in our website (Courses, Projects, Students, Available jobs, …) How to apply for UWA Medical Physics Postgraduate Program  

 

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On March 14-15 in Perth, medical physics clinical staff and registrars, academic staff and students participated in a workshop on ways to integrate Radiation Oncology clinical and research work.  The event included two research workshops, one held at each of Genesis Cancer Care and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, in which researchers presented their project and ideas.  FeedbackRead more…

 

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Learn about innovation in medical physics in the free lecture, “Idea to Venture”.  This workshop is the first of a series of Start-Up Exchange workshops, and is hosted by The Innovation Centre WA in conjunction with UWA’s Office of Industry and Innovation.   In “Idea to Venture,” Prof. Tim St Pierre will talk about the development of the FerriScan technology atRead more…

 

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Today we profile Dr Mahsheed Sabet, who writes about her career in medical physics and her experience as a Medical Physics Registrar at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. I have recently joined the Training, Education and Accreditation Program (TEAP) for Radiation Oncology Medical Physicists. With a BSc in Applied Physics, an MSc and a PhD in MedicalRead more…

 

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This month in Sydney Research Assoc/Prof. Mike House, Asst/Prof. Pejman Rowshanfarzad and Asst/Prof. Anita Adhitya met with representatives from each of the Australian universities that offer postgraduate programs in medical physics.  The group is developing the national Medical Physics University Network, a collaboration to support the development and capacity of the medical physics community.  TheRead more…

 

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Western Australia will soon be equipped with one of the latest worldwide technologies for cancer treatments. The CyberKnife is a multi-million dollar system which is being installed in the department of Radiation Oncology at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth. The CyberKnife (Accuray Inc., Sunnyvale, CA) is a non-invasive alternative to surgery for the treatmentRead more…

 

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Congratulations to Prof. Tim St Pierre, who has been selected as a 2014 IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecturer.  He will present the following talk about biomagnetics and its biomedical applications, travelling globally with his presentation over the year.  Stay tuned for Prof. St Pierre’s movements in our unfolding, “Where is Tim?” adventure. Scientists working in the fieldRead more…

 

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Applications close next week for the Western Australian Department of Health ‘Scholarship in Radiation Oncology Medical Physics – 2014‘.  This scholarship is to support students in the  Master of Physical Science: Medical Physics course at The University of Western Australia who would like to focus their research component on a radiation oncology topic. Applications close: 17 January, 2014Read more…

 

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