Proposal 19Th ICNCT
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GRANADA CANDIDATURE FOR 19TH ICNCT 19th International Congress on Neutron Capture Therapy September/October 2020 Candidature of Granada, Spain This document contains a proposal to the International Society for Neutron Capture Therapy for organizing the 19 th International Congress of Neutron Capture Therapy in Granada, Spain , in September or October of 2020. Local Organizing Committee • Ignacio Porras , Professor of Physics, University of Granada, member of ISNCT since 2008 and member of the Board of Councillors. • Javier Praena , PhD in Physics, University of Granada, member of ISNCT since 2012. • Fernando Arias de Saavedra , Professor of Physics, University of Granada, member of ISNCT since 2014. • Manuel P. Sabariego , PhD in Physics, University of Granada, member of ISNCT since 2014. • Marta Sabaté-Gilarte , PhD in Physics, CERN and University of Seville, member of ISNCT since 2014. • Rosario Núñez , PhD in Chemistry, Institute of Material Science of Barcelona. • Clara Viñas, PhD in Chemistry, Institute of Material Science of Barcelona. • José Expósito , MD, Head of Oncology, Hospital Universitario de Granada. • Juan Luis Osorio , Radiophysicist, Hospital Universitario de Granada. • Maria del Carmen Ruiz-Ruiz , PhD in Biochemistry, University of Granada. • Maria José Ruiz-Magaña , PhD in Biochemistry, University of Granada • María Pedrosa , PhD student, Institute Laue-Langevin and University of Granada GRANADA CANDIDATURE FOR 19TH ICNCT Foreword of I. Porras I had the honor and the pleasure of being the meeting organizer of the 7th International Meeting of Young Researchers in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy which took place in Granada, Spain, from 22nd to 26th of September 2013. When I presented the proposal to the ISNCT in 2011, the great response of all the community filled me with joy. This was an example of the great feelings that I have contrasted in all the ISNCT Congresses that I have attended. There is an interdisciplinary atmosphere of collaboration, communication and mutual encouragement that is not common in other fields of science. I am absolutely grateful to all members of this scientific community. We are taking a step ahead and proposing to the ISNCT holding one of these Congresses of the Society. We will make all our efforts, if this candidacy is approved, of maintain all the values of these meetings. Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is an experimental radiotherapy technique continuously benefiting from active research throughout the world. It is based on sound physical principles: the cell killing effect is produced by heavy charged ions (alpha particle and a recoil nucleus), the products of a nuclear reaction which happens inside the body by means of a low energy neutron when colliding with an specific nucleus, which in all clinical applications is Boron-10. Then, when the two non-toxic different components of the treatment (neutron field and B-10 tumor-specific compound) meets, a huge amount of energy is delivered locally, by means of a very short range radiation of a high biological effectiveness, and sparing healthy tissues. The results from the clinical trials performed worldwide are very promising: BNCT is a safe procedure (very small adverse effects), even for patients for which conventional radiotherapy is not possible; an enlargement of the mean survival time is found for very malignant diseases such as Glioblastoma Multiforme; a large percent of recurrent malignant head and neck cancer patients (for which no other treatment was possible) have shown complete tumor remission after a treatment of normally one session, and it is an interesting option for other cancers of very bad prognosis. These latest results have motivated a renewed interest from the authorities, an example of that is that the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC), an Expert Committee of the European Science Foundation has devoted a chapter in the recent report of 2014 “Nuclear Physics for Medicine”, aimed for future science policies. In order to become a well-established alternative to other cancer therapies, is it important the progress in some research problems which will optimize treatments, the construction of new facilities and the outreach of this promising therapy. BNCT is facing a renovation that may increase its presence in clinical treatments in the forthcoming years. This, and recent advances from research may lead to a new era in BNCT. GRANADA CANDIDATURE FOR 19TH ICNCT Our Spanish group is formed by physicists from the Universidad de Granada, chemists from the Institute of Material Sciences of Barcelona (ICMAB), biologists from the Center for Biomedical Research (CIBM) of the University of Granada, and medical doctors from the Granada University Hospital at the Technological Health Park (PTS) of Granada. In the latest years we have obtain a strong support from National and Regional governmental agencies and foundations, in particular we have obtained specific grants for BNCT research from the Junta de Andalucia (regional government) from 2013 to 2017, with a budget 275632 EUR, from the Spanish Ministry of Economy (2016 to 2019) with 41503 EUR, from the Spanish ACS Foundation (total 35000 EUR), the Campus for International Excellence BioTic of the University of Granada (20000 EUR in 2012, and 24000 EUR in 2014), and the most recent grant, of 143000 for the period 2016-2019 from the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), a very prestigious foundation in Spain from particular donors. This grant comes from a very competitive process and has a strong relevance in Spain. The AECC grants will be formally given by the Queen of Spain in a formal institutional act that will place in September 22 nd . Our main focus is the research in improvements of BNCT delivery, including the obtention of nuclear and radiobiology data for an accurate dose determination for treatment planning. For this purpose we have recently established collaborations with three very relevant nuclear facilities in Europe: the neutron time of flight collaboration at CERN, of which we are partners since 2015 for neutron cross sections measurements of relevance for BNCT, the Institute Laue-Langevin of Grenoble, France, for which we have recently signed a 3-year agreement for a research project of neutron radiobiology measurements for BNCT, the JRC-IRMM in Geel, Belgium, and the National Accelerator Center of Seville, Spain. The interest of these institutions on BNCT research can be a boost for the possible future BNCT network in Europe which is pursued by the important and active European groups which belongs to the ISNCT, and which collaborate also with those outside Europe. The celebration of the ICNCT conference will be of great help for this mission. We understand and share the feeling of importance and strong tradition of the biennial meetings of the ICNCT since the first one hold in Cambridge (USA). A rotation of continents gives a chance to Spain to host the 2020 conference. It would be a great honor to be part of the following list: GRANADA CANDIDATURE FOR 19TH ICNCT 1st Cambridge, USA Brownell/Fairchild 1983 12-14 October 2nd Tokyo, Japan Hiroshi Hatanaka 1985 18-20 October 3rd Bremen, Germany Detlef Gabel 1988 31 May-3 June 4th Sydney, Australia Barry J. Allen 1990 4-7 December 5th Columbus, USA Albert J. Soloway 1992 14-17 September 6th Kobe, Japan Yutaka Mishima 1994 31 October- 4 November 7th Zurich, Switzerland Borje Larsson 1996 4-7 September 8th La Jolla, USA Frederick Hawthorne 1998 13-18 September 9th Osaka, Japan Keiji Kanda 2000 2-6 October 10th Essen, Germany Wolfgang Sauerwein 2002 8-13 September 11th Boston, USA Robert Zamenhof 2004 11-15 October 12th Takamatsu, Japan Yoshinobu Nakagawa 2006 9-13 October 13th Florence, Italy Aris Zonta 2008 2-7 November 14th Buenos Aires, Argentina Sara J. Liberman 2010 25-29 October 15th Tsukuba, Japan Akira Matsumura 2012 10-14 September 16th Helsinki, Finland Leena Kankaanranta 2014 14-19 June 17th Columbia, USA Satish Jalisatgi 2016 2-7 October 18th Taipei, ROC Fong-In Chou 2018 It would be exciting for us to organize, during five days, presentations of results from different fields in this interdisciplinary research, from engineering and physics to chemistry and pharmacology, and biology and clinical medicine. I hope this exchange of ideas will improve the common knowledge in the field and the rise of new collaborations. Ignacio Porras Department of Atomic, Molecular and Nuclear Physics Director of Department University of Granada, Spain. GRANADA CANDIDATURE FOR 19TH ICNCT Organizing Institution: University of Granada Founded almost five hundred years ago, in 1531, during the reign of Charles V, the Universidad de Granada has grown in close symbiosis with society and has become a benchmark in terms of both the quality of its teaching and research and, with a particular emphasis, its cooperation and development activities. The various Campuses (Aynadamar, Cartuja, Fuentenueva and Centro), which are spread all over the city, combined with the historical and heritage buildings in some of the most unique neighbourhoods of Granada, re-energize the University, and give the city a characteristic student atmosphere. Our institution combines the wealth of experience that comes with its lengthy tradition with the dynamism and youth of almost 60,000 undergraduates; the number of students rises to 80,000 when postgraduates and students studying additional courses are taken into account. The Universidad de Granada welcomes more students from international mobility than any other Spanish university. Our University is a reference in the health sciences. It hosts the Technological Health Park (PTS). PTS is the first park specialized in health care in Spain and one of very few throughout the world. It integrates teaching, research, patient care and business development for Health and Biomedicine. PTS Granada covers an area of 625,000 m², housing all the infrastructures and facilities devoted to its four main uses: teaching (98,000 m²), health care (120,000 m²), and research and business development (170,000 m²).