Physicists receive patent for improved cancer ther...(to shape the proton beam and keep it foc...),Health

Pinpoint accuracy reduces collateral damage and allows physicians more flexibility in the doses they use. Higher doses could yield more effective therapy, possibly in fewer treatments.

Compact beam size has other benefits as well: smaller components (beam pipes, magnets, etc.) for the whole device. That makes everything lighter, and less expensive, Peggs said. Smaller size will also eliminate the need for water-cooling most magnets; air-cooling will be sufficient. That adds up to even more cost savings.

"Our biggest challenge now is to find partners in an industrial consortium to help us build one of these new machines," said Peggs. "It's part of our mission as a national laboratory to put together teams and serve national needs in terms of technology transfer. We would help to build the first specialized, high-tech items, but most of an accelerator is made from conventional technology, and that can be done by industry. So we are looking for a consortium to see this move into the commercial sector - and hospitals across the country," he said.

In addition to Peggs, Michael Brennan, Joseph Tuozzolo, and Alexander Zaltsman, all in Brookhaven Lab's Collider-Accelerator Department, collaborated on the project. Their ideas and designs stem directly from their experience working on particle accelerators for physics experiments.

"It's the fact that we do the science for accelerators like RHIC that allows us to do this for medical applications," Peggs said.

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