CPFR – “Centro Pisano multidisciplinare sulla ricerca e implementazione clinica della Flash Radiotherapy” is a reaserch center born in 2021 thanks to a project funded by Fondazione Pisa and gathering together four institutions (University of Pisa, AOUP, CNR and INFN). At CPFR@CISUP facilities – Università di Pisa, Presidio Santa Chiara, ed.18 Via Roma 67, Pisa – there is access to the irradiation beam of the new generation LINAC (Electron Flash) and to the related radiobiological laboratory, as well as all the imaging core facilities of CISUP.
CPFR signed an agreement with the UHDpulse-Consortium concerning the collaboration in the field of Dosimetry for advanced radiotherapy using electron beams at ultra-high pulse dose rates. The UHDpulse-Consortium and CPFR collaboration will run until 2023.
Radiotherapy is a powerful weapon in cancer treatment, it is recommended for 50-60% of cancer patients, and many of them are cured. However, despite the enormous technological advances of the past 20 years, this technology is still limited by radiation-induced toxicity on healthy tissues. If this toxicity could be reduced, a higher dose of radiation could be administered, thus opening the possibility of curing those cancers that still remain incurable and reducing long-term negative side effects in patients with curable tumors. Initial preclinical studies have shown that irradiation at doses far higher than currently used in clinical settings, for shorter effective times than those currently practiced, reduces radiation-induced toxicity while maintaining effectiveness in contrasting the tumor. This is known as the FLASH effect. The Pisa Foundation has decided to support and fly – with 1.3 million euros – the research project Electron Flash Therapy, to promote an in-depth study on the so-called FLASH effect, the line of research according to the agreement signed by the University of Pisa, which will be the implementing institution of the project, together with the AOUP, CNR and INFN. The research project was presented on 12 October 2021, in a press conference that took place in the auditorium of Palazzo Blu, which was attended by the Dr. Stefano Del Corso, President of the Pisa Foundation, the Rector of the University of Pisa, Professor Paolo Mancarella, Prof. Simone Capaccioli, Director of the Center for Instrument Sharing of the University of Pisa (CISUP), Prof.ssa Fabiola Paiar, Scientific Director of the CPFR, Dr.ssa Silvia Briani, General Director of the AOUP, Dr. Fabio Di Martino, creator of the project and Technical Director of the CPFR, Prof.ssa Michela Matteoli, Director of the CNR Institute of Neuroscience and Dr. Marco Grassi, Director of the INFN of Pisa.
work in progress
Maria Giuseppina Bisogni
Matteo Caleo
Mario Costa
Beatrice Di Marco
Fabio Di Martino
Prof. Physics – UniPi
Prof. Physiology – UniPd
Senior res. scientist – CNR
PhD Student – CNR
Thecnical Manager CPFR
Beatrice D’Orsi
Giovanni Gadducci
Alessandra Gonnelli
Elisabetta Mori
Fabiola Paiar
Research scientist – CNR
Specializing doctor – UniPi
PhD student – UniPi
PhD student – CNR
Scientific Director CPFR
Marta Scalera
Enrica Strettoni
Valentina Tozzini
Stefano Ursino
Eleonora Vannini
Research fellow – CNR
Director of Research – CNR
Director of Research – CNR
Dr. Radiotherapy – AOUP
Research scientist – CNR
CPFR Higlights