Beatriz Sánchez

My area of research is radiobiology (development of predictive models of the response of radiosensitive organs to ionizing radiation). I am interested in modeling the probability of induction of second cancer as a consequence of the absorbed radiation dose in tissues outside the treatment field during radiotherapy (RT) of a first tumor. Photon and neutron dosimetry outside the radiation field (i.e., outside the initial tumor) has to be performed by overcoming the complexity associated with the absence of the reference conditions included in the international dosimetric protocols. Experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations allow us to model the out-of-field dose distributions

associated with real treatments for any patient and, finally, to calculate the probability of generating second cancer from mechanistic models that are perfectible and re-parameterizable compared with epidemiological data. We can also model the blood flow of patients and predict the radiation dose that T lymphocytes (responsible for the immune response) receive during RT and thus estimate the post- treatment lymphocyte count. In this way, we contribute to developing personalized medicine with optimized treatments for each patient. The setting up of an experimental radiobiology facility with a preclinical irradiator has opened a new path for us to explore novel

treatment techniques with great potential that we approach from an interdisciplinary perspective with researchers inside and outside the UC in engineering, biology, and medicine.