Graduation Semester and Year
Summer 2025
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics and Applied Physics
Department
Physics
First Advisor
Yujie Chi
Second Advisor
Qiming Zhang
Third Advisor
Muhammad Huda
Fourth Advisor
Mingwu Jin
Fifth Advisor
Amir Shahmoradi
Abstract
Cancer remains a significant public health challenge, with treatments like radiation therapy forming a cornerstone of modern care. To address this challenge, advanced computer simulations can improve radiotherapy in two primary ways. From one hand, mechanistic simulations help elucidate the fundamental radiobiological working principles, which could contribute to the clinical advancements from a bottom-up framework. On the other hand, modality simulations could help design better clinical systems with better detection and therapeutic capabilities. This research enhances these critical simulation tools by introducing two significant developments.
First, this work introduces a metaphase DNA model into a microscopic Monte Carlo simulation framework to help simulate the radiation-induced DNA damage effects for cells at metaphase. This model has been successfully incorporated into our in-house GPU-based microscopic Monte Carlo simulation engine for radiation-induced DNA damage simulation, gMicroMC. This new development effort provides crucial insights into how a cell's cycle impacts treatment effectiveness.
Second, this research expanded the function capability for our GPU-based Monte Carlo simulation engine for PET scanner simulation, gPET. The initial gPET only supported the simulation of single-ring, mono-layer PET scanners. In my work, I expanded gPET pipeline to support multi-layer PET scanner geometries, which was then used to evaluate a novel dual-layer small animal PET scanner design.
Together, these developments provide the scientific community with more powerful and versatile tools, helping to accelerate the creation of cancer therapies that are more effective and precisely targeted to the individual.
Keywords
Monte Carlo Particle Transport GPU
Disciplines
Biological and Chemical Physics | Physics
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Sitmukhambetov, Satzhan, "Development and Application of GPU Based Monte Carlo Simulation Techniques in Radiation Medicine" (2025). Physics Dissertations. 184.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/physics_dissertations/184