Predictive Radiation Oncology – A New NCI–DOE Scientific Space and Community

Journal Article · 27 January 2022 · Radiation Research

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1667/rade-22-00012.1 · OSTI ID:1881327

Buchsbaum, Jeffrey C. ^[1]; Jaffray, David A. ^[2]; Ba, Demba ^[3]; Borkon, Lynn L. ^[4]; Chalk, Christine ^[5]; Chung, Caroline ^[2]; Coleman, Matthew A. ^[6]; Coleman, C. Norman ^[1]; Diehn, Maximilian ^[7]; Droegemeier, Kelvin K. ^[8]; Enderling, Heiko ^[9]; Espey, Michael G. ^[1]; Greenspan, Emily J. ^[1]; Hartshorn, Christopher M. ^[1]; Hoang, Thuc ^[10]; Hsiao, H. Timothy ^[11]; Keppel, Cynthia ^[12]; Moore, Nathan W. ^[13]; Prior, Fred ^[14]; Stahlberg, Eric A. ^[4] ; Tourassi, Georgia ^[15]; Willcox, Karen E. ^[16]

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1. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD (United States)
2. Univ. of Texas, Houston, TX (United States)
3. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
4. Frederick National Lab. for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD (United States)
5. US Department of Energy (USDOE), Boyds, MD (United States)
6. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
7. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
8. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
9. H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Inst., Tampa, FL (United States)
10. US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington, DC (United States)
11. American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), Arlington, VA (United States)
12. Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)
13. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
14. Univ. of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR (United States)
15. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
16. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)

With a widely attended virtual kickoff event on January 29, 2021, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Department of Energy (DOE) launched a series of 4 interactive, interdisciplinary workshops—and a final concluding “World Café” on March 29, 2021—focused on advancing computational approaches for predictive oncology in the clinical and research domains of radiation oncology. These events reflect 3,870 human hours of virtual engagement with representation from 8 DOE national laboratories and the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNL), 4 research institutes, 5 cancer centers, 17 medical schools and teaching hospitals, 5 companies, 5 federal agencies, 3 research centers, and 27 universities. Here we summarize the workshops by first describing the background for the workshops. Participants identified twelve key questions—and collaborative parallel ideas—as the focus of work going forward to advance the field. These were then used to define short-term and longer-term “Blue Sky” goals. In addition, the group determined key success factors for predictive oncology in the context of radiation oncology, if not the future of all of medicine. These are: cross-discipline collaboration, targeted talent development, development of mechanistic mathematical and computational models and tools, and access to high-quality multiscale data that bridges mechanisms to phenotype. The workshop participants reported feeling energized and highly motivated to pursue next steps together to address the unmet needs in radiation oncology specifically and in cancer research generally and that NCI and DOE project goals align at the convergence of radiation therapy and advanced computing.

• Research Organization: Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-06OR23177
• OSTI ID: 1881327
• Report Number(s): JLAB-PHY-22-3672; DOE/OR/23177-5577
• Journal Information: Radiation Research, Journal Name: Radiation Research Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 197; ISSN 0033-7587
• Publisher: Radiation Research SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English