School of Mechanical Engineering Prof. Gal Shafirstein
School of Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at 14:00
Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering, Room 206
Finite Element Modeling Guided Laser Therapy Improves Control of Locally Advanced Tumors
Prof. Gal Shafirstein
Professor of Oncology and full Member
Director of Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) Clinical Research
PDT Center at the Department of Cell Stress Biology
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
Patients with locally advanced cancerous tumors who failed to respond to standard treatment have very limited treatment options. Several studies suggest that interstitial photodynamic therapy (I-PDT) is a promising treatment modality to control locally advanced cancer. The administration of laser light in I-PDT requires careful treatment planning to maximize tumor ablation while minimizing damage to normal tissue. To that end, we developed a customized finite element modeling (FEM) approach to guide laser light administration in I-PDT.
In this talk, a brief overview of I-PDT will be given. The rationale for the use of FEM will be presented and discussed. This talk will review the modeling approach, validation and translation from the clinic to the laboratory and back to the clinic. Examples of the FEM use to evaluate the feasibility of treating locally advanced head and neck and non-small cell lung cancer will be shown. Pretreatment planning of bone tumors in preclinical settings will be presented. The FEM successful implementation to improve local control and cure of locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma in animal models will be discussed. A clinical study using the FEM to guide I-PDT in the treatment of patients with locally advanced head neck cancer will be presented.
About the Lecturer
Prof. Shafirstein earned his B.Sc. in the department of materials science at the Ben-Gurion University (1986), his M.Sc. (1988) and D.Sc. (1992) in the department of materials science and engineering at the Technion. He then moved to England to work at the United Kingdom National Physical Laboratory (1992-1995), and to Israel and USA to work in industry (1995-2001). He returned to academia in 2001, and joined the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of AR for Medical Sciences, where he was an associated Prof. and the director of translational research. In 2012, he was recruited as a full Prof. of Oncology and member at the photodynamic therapy (PDT) center of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY. The PDT center at Roswell Park is a world leader in the field of PDT. It is where the modern PDT was initiated in 1970s', and the first FDA approved PDT drug for cancer therapy was developed. Prof. Shafirstein serves as the director of PDT clinical research since 2015. He is responsible for developing and supporting multiple clinical studies in PDT. His research is supported, primarily, with competitive awards from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institute of Health, USA. His research focuses on developing laser therapies for patients with cancer that have no good treatment options.
