We want to understand the effects of radiotherapy, develop improved treatment strategies and evaluate their effectiveness to improve patient outcomes. We are driven to optimise treatment for each individual patient.
To this end, we bring together multidisciplinary experts from radiotherapy, radiobiology, clinical physics and data science. The research is supported by 5 core facilities: Biology lab, Artificial Intelligence lab, Radiotherapy Modelling, UMC Groningen Proton Therapy Center (GPTC) and Particle Therapy Research Center (PARTREC).
Jointly we work on our GRayLines Research Programme consisting of 4 research lines:
Adopting modern technologies has allowed us to increase cure rates greatly. Still, long term cancer survival is not yet possible for all patients and remains a challenge.
Moreover, for the growing number of cancer survivors, improving health after treatment is increasingly important.
Ultimately, our ambition is to enable joint decision making with patients to yield the most valuable individualised treatment for each patient, based on the full assessment of efficacy of all treatment options. This will lead to optimised healthy ageing and contribute to a sustainable future of health.
We learn from our patients using extensive prospective data registration programmes for several patient groups. At the department of Radiation Oncology, we managed to set up a number of worldwide unique databases containing prospectively collected data of all patients, including head and neck cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, esophageal cancer, CNS and gynaecological cancer.
In the standard follow-up programmes, we assess acute complications at the start and during treatment, and six weeks after treatment. Late complications are monitored every six months for (at least) five years after completion of the radiotherapy. Finally, quality of life indicators as defined by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) are assessed at start, conclusion and every six months after completion of the radiotherapy.
Our Continuous Radiation Learning System allows us to continuously evaluate and improve our treatments. Starting from the prospective data registration programmes, we have adopted a Continuous Radiation Learning System based on the model-based approach to continuously evaluate and improve our patient treatment.
We continuously translate novel knowledge obtained from radiobiology research from Bench to Bed and back
We have strategic collaboration with multiple industry partners to support routine clinical implementation. Public-private partnerships between us and industry partners are strategically very important to extend our research resources and facilitate the upscaling, valorisation and clinical utilisation of our research results. This not only allows routine clinical implementation of novel technologies for the benefit of our patients, but also for patients worldwide.
We collaborate with:
We continuously look for talents who are interested in contributing to our research mission and joining our team. We frequently have a range of vacancies available in our department, such as PhD-students, scientists, technicians and medical doctors. Are you driven to improve radiotherapy treatment and help improve the healthy ageing of cancer survivors? Please contact us for more information.
University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG)
Department of Radiation Oncology
PO Box 30.001
9700 RB Groningen
The Netherlands
Visiting address
University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG)
Department of Radiation Oncology
Hanzeplein 1
9713 GZ Groningen
