Biography and research overview
Dr Simeon Nill, is a clinical scientist who specialises in ways of targeting radiotherapy that take into account tumour movement. He is head of translational radiotherapy physics and deputy head of the Radiotherapy Physics Modelling Team in the Joint Department of Physics.
Dr Nill's research is focused on the translation into new treatment concepts of the latest advances in the area of image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), adaptive radiation therapy (ART) and treatment planning for external photon beam therapy. Dr Nill closely collaborates with the radiotherapy service of The Royal Marsden to bring these scientific advances to the clinic.
Dr Nill’s current research in the fields of IGRT and ART tackles the problem of tumour motion induced by physiological processes like breathing during the delivery of radiotherapy. Using modern in-room imaging techniques like mega- or kilo-voltage 2D projection, 3D cone beam CT images and non-ionisation localisation methods, his work derives a model of tumour motion and uses the information to adjust the delivery parameters of the treatment device (linear accelerator) in near real time. In collaboration with industry, the first applications of the newly developed delivery techniques on anthropomorphic phantoms have yielded promising results. If applied clinically this will enable a more accurate delivery of optimised 3D dose distribution to the patient.