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Established in October of 2007 the Photo-Medical Research Center, as a hub for innovative research and development, is therefore the central part of the "Photo-Medical Valley" program which is funded by the Special Coordination Fund (SCF) for Promoting Science and Technology commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan.
The Photo-Medical Valley program promotes cooperation in research and development between academic, industrial and government establishments to foster scientific and technical innovation in the photo-medical field. Two primary goals of this program are:
1. Develop a laser-accelerated proton beamline as a medical prototype suitable for application to cancer therapy that, in a compact form, can enable greater patient access worldwide to cancer treatment using ion beam radiotherapy.
2. Establish a community-based research and development hub and innovation centre for promoting, supporting and conducting photo-medical research and technical developments as well as the development of companion technologies.
To achieve our goals we currently operate two main groups: (i) the Research Promotion Group and (ii) the Photo-Medical Industrial Research Group. With this core, our program proceeds in collaboration with ten partners.
A compact laser-driven proton accelerator that is the basis of a proton treatment facility offering "ion beam radiotherapy" treatment of cancer brings many new challenges as we push to realize these goals. For example our J-KAREN laser is now used to generate protons with energy up to 7 MeV but we must increase this by at least an order of magnitude to be feasible for cancer treatment. Furthermore, we need more intense and more powerful laser systems that are more compact than many of the intense laser systems currently being used to investigate laser-driven energetic proton generation.
At the Photo-Medical Research Center (PMRC) we can find clues for overcoming such technical challenges by conducting research and development in collaboration with our partners. We aggressively promote the essential research and development for this ambitious program.
We also know from ongoing research that new laser technology is being generated with great potential for industrial applications in the near future. In this dynamic environment technology of great potential is being generated while new technologies begin to appear on the horizon. I would like many companies to join us at PMRC to encourage further development of relevant medical technologies as well as practical applications of other new technologies.
Shunichi Kawanishi
Director-General
Photo Medical Research Center
Japan Atomic Energy Agency
