Mission
The detector development group works to build novel radiation detectors to solve clinical problems. We use a mix of computer simulations lab-based tests and clinical simulations to develop precise and easy use detectors that can be easily implemented in clinical practice.
Members
Projects
Dosimetry Detectors
Dosimetry is the practice of quantitatively determining the energy deposited in a medium by ionizing radiation. The major challenge in radiotherapy is to deliver and quantify an accurate dose of radiation to the tumor. Several dosimetry techniques are available to measure the radiation dose, but they have limitations. In particular, the non-tissue equivalence of the detector housing/material and the sensitive volume leads to perturbations of the radiation fluence and necessitates correction factors. Another constraint placed on conventional dosimetry techniques is the limited resolution. Currently, there are many ongoing research projects regarding detector development for quality assurance and in-vivo dosimetry in radiotherapy.
Imaging Detector
Dynamic positron emission tomography is a nuclear medicine imaging technique providing functional images for organs of interest with applications in oncology, cardiology, and drug discovery. This technique requires the acquisition of the time-course arterial plasma activity concentration, called the arterial input function, which is normally acquired invasively via arterial blood sampling. Currently, we are developing a radiation detector to measure the arterial input function non-invasively.
Detector Group Publications
2021
Bui, Alaina; Childress, Lilian; Sankey, Jack; Seuntjens, Jan; Enger, Shirin A.
Effect of Incoming Particle Energy and Ionization Cluster Size on the G-value of Hydrated Electrons Presentation
AAPM 63rd Annual Meeting, 25.07.2021.
@misc{Bui2021,
title = {Effect of Incoming Particle Energy and Ionization Cluster Size on the G-value of Hydrated Electrons},
author = {Alaina Bui and Lilian Childress and Jack Sankey and Jan Seuntjens and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-07-25},
howpublished = {AAPM 63rd Annual Meeting},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
Thibodeau-Antonacci, Alana; Jafarzadeh, Hossein; Carroll, Liam; Weishaupt, Luca L.
Mitacs Globalink Research Award Award
from MITACS in 2021.
@award{Thibodeau-Antonacci2021c,
title = {Mitacs Globalink Research Award},
author = {Alana Thibodeau-Antonacci and Hossein Jafarzadeh and Liam Carroll and Luca L. Weishaupt},
url = {https://www.mitacs.ca/en/programs/globalink/globalink-research-award},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-07-01},
urldate = {2021-07-01},
organization = {MITACS},
abstract = {The Mitacs Globalink Research Award (GRA) supports research collaborations between Canada and select partner organizations and eligible countries and regions. It was awarded to Alana Thibodeau-Antonacci, Hossein Jafarzadeh, Liam Carroll and Luca L. Weishaupt.
Under the joint supervision of a home and host professor, successful senior undergraduate students, graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows will receive a $6,000 research award to conduct a 12- to 24-week research project in the other country. Awards are offered in partnership with Mitacs’s Canadian academic partners (and, in some cases, with Mitacs’s international partners) and are subject to available funding. },
howpublished = {Mitacs},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {award}
}
Under the joint supervision of a home and host professor, successful senior undergraduate students, graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows will receive a $6,000 research award to conduct a 12- to 24-week research project in the other country. Awards are offered in partnership with Mitacs’s Canadian academic partners (and, in some cases, with Mitacs’s international partners) and are subject to available funding.
Bui, Alaina; Bekerat, Hamed; Enger, Shirin A.
Film measurements for verification of dose results in hydrated electron dosimetry Presentation
COMP Virtual Scientific Meeting, 25.06.2021.
@misc{Bui2021b,
title = {Film measurements for verification of dose results in hydrated electron dosimetry},
author = {Alaina Bui and Hamed Bekerat and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-06-25},
howpublished = {COMP Virtual Scientific Meeting},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
Bui, Alaina; Childress, Lilian; Sankey, Jack; Seuntjens, Jan; Enger, Shirin A.
Effect of incoming particle energy, cluster size, LET, and depth in water on the G-value of hydrated electrons Presentation
COMP Virtual Scientific Meeting, 22.06.2021.
@misc{Bui2021c,
title = {Effect of incoming particle energy, cluster size, LET, and depth in water on the G-value of hydrated electrons},
author = {Alaina Bui and Lilian Childress and Jack Sankey and Jan Seuntjens and Shirin A. Enger },
year = {2021},
date = {2021-06-22},
urldate = {2021-06-22},
howpublished = {COMP Virtual Scientific Meeting},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
2020
Bui, Alaina; Childress, Lilian; Sankey, Jack; Enger, Shirin A.
Developing a hydrated electron dosimeter and determining the G-value of hydrated electrons Presentation
Association Québécoise des Physicien(ne)s Médicaux Cliniques, 05.11.2020.
@misc{Bui2020,
title = {Developing a hydrated electron dosimeter and determining the G-value of hydrated electrons},
author = {Alaina Bui and Lilian Childress and Jack Sankey and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-11-05},
howpublished = {Association Québécoise des Physicien(ne)s Médicaux Cliniques},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
Turgeon, Vincent; Morcos, Marc; Antaki, Majd; Enger, Shirin A.
Impact of choices in dosimetric calculation method for high dose rate brachytherapy of breast cancer Presentation
Radiotherapy and Oncology, 01.11.2020, ISSN: 0167-8140, 1879-0887.
@misc{Turgeon2020,
title = {Impact of choices in dosimetric calculation method for high dose rate brachytherapy of breast cancer},
author = {Vincent Turgeon and Marc Morcos and Majd Antaki and Shirin A. Enger},
url = {https://www.thegreenjournal.com/article/S0167-8140(21)01974-5/fulltext},
doi = {10.1016/S0167-8140(21)01974-5},
issn = {0167-8140, 1879-0887},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-11-01},
abstract = {www.thegreenjournal.com},
howpublished = {Radiotherapy and Oncology},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
Carroll, Liam; Croteau, Etienne; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Sarrhini, Otman; Turgeon, Vincent; Lecomte, Roger; Enger, Shirin A.
In: Physica medica: PM: an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology: official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB), 76 , pp. 92–99, 2020, ISSN: 1724-191X.
@article{carroll_cross-validation_2020,
title = {Cross-validation of a non-invasive positron detector to measure the arterial input function for pharmacokinetic modelling in dynamic positron emission tomography},
author = {Liam Carroll and Etienne Croteau and Gustavo Kertzscher and Otman Sarrhini and Vincent Turgeon and Roger Lecomte and Shirin A. Enger},
doi = {10.1016/j.ejmp.2020.06.009},
issn = {1724-191X},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-08-01},
journal = {Physica medica: PM: an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology: official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB)},
volume = {76},
pages = {92--99},
abstract = {Kinetic modeling of positron emission tomography (PET) data can assess index rate of uptake, metabolism and predict disease progression more accurately than conventional static PET. However, it requires knowledge of the time-course of the arterial blood radioactivity concentration, called the arterial input function (AIF). The gold standard to acquire the AIF is by invasive means. The purpose of this study was to validate a previously developed dual readout scintillating fiber-based non-invasive positron detector, hereinafter called non-invasive detector (NID), developed to determine the AIF for dynamic PET measured from the human radial artery. The NID consisted of a 3 m long plastic scintillating fiber with each end coupled to a 5 m long transmission fiber followed by a silicon photomultiplier. The scintillating fiber was enclosed inside the grooves of a plastic cylindrical shell. Two sets of experiments were performed to test the NID against a previously validated microfluidic positron detector. A closed-loop microfluidic system combined with a wrist phantom was used. During the first experiment, the three PET radioisotopes 18F, 11C and 68Ga were tested. After optimizing the detector, a second series of tests were performed using only 18F and 11C. The maximum pulse amplitude to electronic noise ratio was 52 obtained with 11C. Linear regressions showed a linear relation between the two detectors. These preliminary results show that the NID can accurately detect positrons from a patient's wrist and has the potential to non-invasively measure the AIF during a dynamic PET scan. The accuracy of these measurements needs to be determined.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Carroll, Liam
First prize for best presentation at the congrès annuel de l'AQPMC Award
from Congrès Annuel de l'AQPMC in 2020.
@award{Carroll2020b,
title = {First prize for best presentation at the congrès annuel de l'AQPMC},
author = {Liam Carroll},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-07-01},
urldate = {2020-07-01},
organization = {Congrès Annuel de l'AQPMC},
abstract = {Nous tenons particulièrement à féliciter Liam Carroll, étudiant à McGill Medical Physics qui a remporté le prix de la meilleure présentation.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {award}
}
Carroll, Liam
Excellence Award from Department of Biological and Biomedical Engineering Award
from McGill University in 2020.
@award{Carroll2020,
title = {Excellence Award from Department of Biological and Biomedical Engineering},
author = {Liam Carroll},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
urldate = {2020-01-01},
organization = {McGill University},
school = {Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering Program},
abstract = {The award recognizes excellent performance in the PhD Program of the BBME/BME graduate program. The selection is based on a combination of overall excellence, performance in the program, grades, progress in project and publications. },
howpublished = {Department of Biological and Biomedical Engineering},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {award}
}
2019
Mégrourèche, Julien; Childress, Lilian; Sankey, Jack; Bui, Alaina; Enger, Shirin A.
Development of an in-vivo radiation dosimeter for radiotherapy. Winner of the best in Physics Award. Award
from in 2019.
@award{Mégrourèche2019,
title = {Development of an in-vivo radiation dosimeter for radiotherapy. Winner of the best in Physics Award.},
author = {Julien Mégrourèche and Lilian Childress and Jack Sankey and Alaina Bui and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-10-01},
urldate = {2019-10-01},
howpublished = {Radiation Association of Radiation Oncology (CARO)},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {award}
}
Turgeon, Vincent; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Carroll, Liam; Hopewell, Robert; Massarweh, Gassan; Enger, Shirin A.
Characterization of scintillating fibers for use as positron detector in positron emission tomography Journal Article
In: Physica medica: PM: an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology: official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB), 65 , pp. 114–120, 2019, ISSN: 1724-191X.
@article{turgeon_characterization_2019,
title = {Characterization of scintillating fibers for use as positron detector in positron emission tomography},
author = {Vincent Turgeon and Gustavo Kertzscher and Liam Carroll and Robert Hopewell and Gassan Massarweh and Shirin A. Enger},
doi = {10.1016/j.ejmp.2019.08.009},
issn = {1724-191X},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-09-01},
journal = {Physica medica: PM: an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology: official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB)},
volume = {65},
pages = {114--120},
abstract = {PURPOSE: Manual and automatic blood sampling at different time intervals is considered the gold standard to determine the arterial input function (AIF) in dynamic positron emission tomography (PET). However, blood sampling is characterized by poor time resolution and is an invasive procedure. The aim of this study was to characterize the scintillating fibers used to develop a non-invasive positron detector.
METHODS: The detector consists of a scintillating fiber coupled at each end to transmission fiber-optic cables that are connected to photo multiplier tubes in a dual readout setup. The detector is designed to be wrapped around the wrist of the patient undergoing dynamic PET. The attenuation length and bending losses were measured with excitation from gamma radiation (137Cs) and ultraviolet (UV) light. The response to positron-emitting radio-tracers was evaluated with 18F and 11C.
RESULTS: The attenuation length for a 3.0 m and 1.5 m long scintillating fiber both coincides with the attenuation length given by the manufacturer when excited with the 137Cs source, but not with the UV source due to the differences in scintillation mechanisms. The bending losses are smaller than the measurement uncertainty for the 137Cs source irradiation, and increase when the bending radius decrease for the UV source irradiation. The signal-to-noise ratio for 18F and 11C solutions are 1.98 and 22.54 respectively. The measured decay constant of 11C agrees with its characteristic value.
CONCLUSION: The performed measurements in the dual readout configuration suggest that scintillating fibers may be suitable to determine the AIF non-invasively.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
METHODS: The detector consists of a scintillating fiber coupled at each end to transmission fiber-optic cables that are connected to photo multiplier tubes in a dual readout setup. The detector is designed to be wrapped around the wrist of the patient undergoing dynamic PET. The attenuation length and bending losses were measured with excitation from gamma radiation (137Cs) and ultraviolet (UV) light. The response to positron-emitting radio-tracers was evaluated with 18F and 11C.
RESULTS: The attenuation length for a 3.0 m and 1.5 m long scintillating fiber both coincides with the attenuation length given by the manufacturer when excited with the 137Cs source, but not with the UV source due to the differences in scintillation mechanisms. The bending losses are smaller than the measurement uncertainty for the 137Cs source irradiation, and increase when the bending radius decrease for the UV source irradiation. The signal-to-noise ratio for 18F and 11C solutions are 1.98 and 22.54 respectively. The measured decay constant of 11C agrees with its characteristic value.
CONCLUSION: The performed measurements in the dual readout configuration suggest that scintillating fibers may be suitable to determine the AIF non-invasively.
Mégrourèche, Julien; Childress, Lilian; Sankey, Jack; Bui, Alaina; Enger, Shirin A.
Development of a hydrated electron dosimeter for in vivo applications in radiotherapy: A proof of concept. Winner of the J.R. Cunningham Young Investigators Award Award
from in 2019.
@award{Mégrourèche2019b,
title = {Development of a hydrated electron dosimeter for in vivo applications in radiotherapy: A proof of concept. Winner of the J.R. Cunningham Young Investigators Award},
author = {Julien Mégrourèche and Lilian Childress and Jack Sankey and Alaina Bui and Shirin A. Enger },
year = {2019},
date = {2019-09-01},
urldate = {2019-09-01},
howpublished = {Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (COMP)},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {award}
}
Carroll, Liam; Croteau, Etienne; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Sarrhini, Otman; Lecomte, Roger; Enger, Shirin A.
Validation of a Non-Invasive Positron Detector for Use with Dynamic PET Under Clinical Conditions Presentation
AAPM 61st Annual Meeting, 14.07.2019.
@misc{nokey,
title = {Validation of a Non-Invasive Positron Detector for Use with Dynamic PET Under Clinical Conditions},
author = {Liam Carroll and Etienne Croteau and Gustavo Kertzscher and Otman Sarrhini and Roger Lecomte and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-07-14},
howpublished = {AAPM 61st Annual Meeting},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
Mégrourèche, Julien; Childress, Lilian; Sankey, Jack; Enger, Shirin A.
Development of a hydrated electron dosimeter for radiotherapy applications Presentation
AAPM 61st Annual Meeting, 14.07.2019.
@misc{Mégrourèche2019d,
title = {Development of a hydrated electron dosimeter for radiotherapy applications},
author = {Julien Mégrourèche and Lilian Childress and Jack Sankey and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-07-14},
howpublished = {AAPM 61st Annual Meeting},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
Carroll, Liam; Croteau, Etienne; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Sarrhini, Otman; Lecomte, Roger; Enger, Shirin A.
Cross-validation of a non-invasive positron detector to measure the arterial input function for pharmacokinetic modelling in dynamic PET imaging Presentation
Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), 24.06.2019.
@misc{Carroll2019c,
title = {Cross-validation of a non-invasive positron detector to measure the arterial input function for pharmacokinetic modelling in dynamic PET imaging},
author = {Liam Carroll and Etienne Croteau and Gustavo Kertzscher and Otman Sarrhini and Roger Lecomte and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-06-24},
howpublished = {Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI)},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
Carroll, Liam; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Enger, Shirin A.
Winners of the Marika Zelenka Roy Innovation Prize Award
from McGill University in 2019.
@award{Carroll2019b,
title = {Winners of the Marika Zelenka Roy Innovation Prize},
author = {Liam Carroll and Gustavo Kertzscher and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
urldate = {2019-01-01},
organization = {McGill University},
abstract = {(50 k CAD) at McGill University Clinical Innovation Competition for the detector BetaSense (A non-invasive positron detector to measure the arterial input function for pharmacokinetic modelling in dynamic positron emission tomography imaging). },
howpublished = {McGill University Clinical Innovation Competition},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {award}
}
Carroll, Liam; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Enger, Shirin A.
Winners of the Centech propulsion program Award
from Centech in 2019.
@award{Carroll2019,
title = {Winners of the Centech propulsion program},
author = {Liam Carroll and Gustavo Kertzscher and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
urldate = {2019-01-01},
organization = {Centech},
abstract = {Two years’ business incubator, (50 k CAD) + access to consulting firms to build a commercial version of BetaSense that can be used in a clinical environment for patient measurements. },
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {award}
}
Mégrourèche, Julien; Bui, Alaina; Sankey, Jack; Childress, Lilian; Enger, Shirin A.
2nd prize in the Young Investigator Competition Award
from McGill University Health Center in 2019.
@award{Mégrourèche2019c,
title = {2nd prize in the Young Investigator Competition},
author = {Julien Mégrourèche and Alaina Bui and Jack Sankey and Lilian Childress and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
urldate = {2019-01-01},
organization = {McGill University Health Center},
abstract = {Development of a Hydrated Electron Dosimeter for Radiotherapy
Applications: A Proof of Concept. 2nd prize in the Young Investigator Competition award at the Research Institute of McGill University Health Center, Cancer Research program.},
howpublished = {Research Institute of McGill University Health Center},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {award}
}
Applications: A Proof of Concept. 2nd prize in the Young Investigator Competition award at the Research Institute of McGill University Health Center, Cancer Research program.
2018
Turgeon, Vincent; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Enger, Shirin A.
Best abstracts to compete in the young investigator symposium Miscellaneous
CARO-COMP. Joint Scientific Meeting, Young Investigator Symposium, 2018.
@misc{Turgeon2018,
title = {Best abstracts to compete in the young investigator symposium},
author = {Vincent Turgeon and Gustavo Kertzscher and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-09-12},
abstract = {Non-invasive Positron Detector for the Monitoring of the Arterial Input Function in PET.
This abstract was selected as one of the best abstracts to compete in this year’s young investigator symposium, CARO-COMP.},
howpublished = {CARO-COMP. Joint Scientific Meeting, Young Investigator Symposium},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {misc}
}
This abstract was selected as one of the best abstracts to compete in this year’s young investigator symposium, CARO-COMP.
Turgeon, Vincent; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Enger, Shirin A.
Non-invasive Positron Detector for the Monitoring of the Arterial Input Function in PET Presentation
CARO-COMP-CAMRT 2018 Joint Scientific Meeting, Young Investigator Symposium, 12.09.2018.
@misc{Turgeon2018b,
title = {Non-invasive Positron Detector for the Monitoring of the Arterial Input Function in PET},
author = {Vincent Turgeon and Gustavo Kertzscher and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-09-12},
howpublished = {CARO-COMP-CAMRT 2018 Joint Scientific Meeting, Young Investigator Symposium},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
Turgeon, Vincent; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Enger, Shirin A.
Non-Invasive Positron Detector to Monitor the Input Function in PET Presentation
AAPM Annual meeting, 29.07.2018.
@misc{nokey,
title = {Non-Invasive Positron Detector to Monitor the Input Function in PET},
author = {Vincent Turgeon and Gustavo Kertzscher and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-07-29},
howpublished = {AAPM Annual meeting},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}
Turgeon, Vincent; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Enger, Shirin A.
Enabling Dynamic PET Imaging Beyond Academic Centers Presentation
The Cancer Research Program Research day at RI-MUHC, 22.05.2018.
@misc{Turgeon2018c,
title = {Enabling Dynamic PET Imaging Beyond Academic Centers},
author = {Vincent Turgeon and Gustavo Kertzscher and Shirin A. Enger},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-05-22},
howpublished = {The Cancer Research Program Research day at RI-MUHC},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {presentation}
}