LhARA Meeting Wednesday 5^th June 2019, 11:00 and Friday 07Jun19, 15:00

Meeting details

Blackett Room 544

Phone details:

UK: 08082 380274
Austria: 0800 006612 

PIN: 5904750902

Full list of telephone contacts may be found here.

Agenda:

1. EPSRC proposal status and timeline: KL
   • Summary
2. Brief discussion of related proposal to STFC Opportunities 2019 call: KL / All
3. Layout and footprint: All
   • Two documents that may aid the discussion here:
     • Paper submitted to IPAC19
     • Old document describing the layout: https://ccap.hep.ph.ic.ac.uk/trac/raw-attachment/wiki/Research/DesignStudy/Documents/Archive/2016-03-22-Imperial-CCT.pdf
4. Towards a project plan: discussion by work package:
   • End-to-end simulation and performance: DC / All
   • Laser-driven particle source: OE, ZN / All
   • Ion-beam capture and initial focus: JPo / All
   • Beam transport and delivery: JPa / All
   • Biological end-station: J.Parsons / All
   • System integration, diagnostics, dosimetry, and controls: AK / All
   • Co-creation of impact: RMc / All
5. Developing the full proposal:
   • Text
   • Schedule
   • (Re)costing
6. Date of next meeting
7. AoB

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Notes:

Wednesday meeting:

Present: AK, OE, DC, WL, KL, JPo
Phone: CH, SB, JPar

Notes of the two meetings (Wednesday and Friday) will be combined.

1. EPSRC proposal status and timeline: KL
   • Summary slide prepared to guide the discussion.
   • We noted the need to respect departmental guidelines to complete proposal ahead of the final deadline so that it can be reviewed by experienced wise men.
2. Brief discussion of related proposal to STFC Opportunities 2019 call: KL / All
   • The goal of this proposal will be to secure resources to prepare an initial CDR for LhARA, to refurbish an existing beam-line at Clatterbridge to serve radiobiology experiments and serve as a LhARA test bed, and to place the UK at the heart of the new 'international Radiobiology Collaboration' that was recently formed at a meeting at GSI. The refurbished beam-line with have proton FLASH capability so will be well aligned with the principal thrusts of the LhARA facility.
   • The budget will be taylored to support 6-months post-doc effort at Imperial and Liverpool, £20k--£30k for the beam-line refurbishment, and netorking resources for the UK and international collaboration building.
3. Layout and footprint: All
   • Two documents that may aid the discussion here:
     • Paper submitted to IPAC19
     • Old document describing the layout: https://ccap.hep.ph.ic.ac.uk/trac/raw-attachment/wiki/Research/DesignStudy/Documents/Archive/2016-03-22-Imperial-CCT.pdf
   • Draughtsperson effort and access to infrastructure providers has been secured at RAL. We noted the imperative to feed appropriate input to the engineer. We agreed that:
     • OE will proved footprint of laser source;
     • JPa will provide layout, supported by JPo and AK;
     • JPar will provide layout for end-station.
   • Starting point for draughting will be the 2016 document.
4. Towards a project plan: discussion by work package:
   • End-to-end simulation and performance: DC / All
     • DC outlined the content of the wp which would incude accelerator simulation, development of 'G4DNA' applications, consideration of treatment-planning enhancements, etc. SB emphasised the expertise on, e.g., BDSIM at RHUL and their intention to develop into G4DNA. WL noted the successful collaboration with Maxeler on the acceleration of relevant treatment-planning codes.
   • Laser-driven particle source: OE, ZN / All
     • (OE) principal issue will be the decision to buy a full system versus building one from stratch. Issues of cost, risk, and effort.
     • OE will liaise with ZN.
   • Ion-beam capture and initial focus: JPo / All
     • Status of the prototype lens at Imperial is that the lens is now operational, but, the alphas from the americium source do not make it to the scintillator. This is being investigated.
     • For the proposal, it will be assumed that the focusing has been observed using the present prototpype. The work plan will therefore be second prototype manufacture, commissioning and characterisation and then manufacture.
   • Beam transport and delivery: JPa / All
     • JPa was not at the phone call, so this item was postponed to Friday.
   • Biological end-station: J.Parsons / All
     • Specification of the in-vitro end-station was routine as it can be based on existing facilities in use by the Liverpool group. The issue is one of budget; i.e. depending on the level of resource it the degree of specialised equipment beyond the basic requirements can be judged.
     • We agreed to adopt an 'excellent specification' until we get to the point where one has to trim budget requests to fit within an envolope.
     • We also agreed that the deployment of equipment at test facilities to make measurements and to proove the equipment would be a critical part of the programme of this workpackage.
   • System integration, diagnostics, dosimetry, and controls: AK / All
     • This workpacge is required to deliver the LhARA system. There is potential overlap with WP1, particularly were processing as part of the feedback and control system is concerned. AK will liase with DC.
   • Co-creation of impact: RMc / All
     • RMcl was not available for this call. CH noted that the translation to clinical availability was a principal goal for this WP.
5. Developing the full proposal:
   • Text
   • Schedule
   • (Re)costing
   • These items were postponed to a future meeting.
6. Date of next meeting
   • We greed to meet in around a fortnight. KL to Doodle to find a date/time.
7. AoB