Description of Research Expertise

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
1. Defining Mechanisms and Reducing Toxicity from Normal Tissue Damage Caused by Ionizing Radiation: These projects center on modeling the physical patterns of dose deposition by x-rays, gamma rays and charged particles and determining the mechanism(s) that lead to normal tissue toxicity. From a greater understanding of these mechanisms, these projects seek to identify and formulate potential radiation protectors and mitigators for use in human medicine.

2. Cellular Signaling and PDT cytotoxicity: This project is focused on defining the molecular mechanism by which PDT-initiated growth factor and anti-oxidant signaling leads to decreased PDT-mediated cytotoxicity in human cancer cells and tumors.

3. Clinical trials of RT and PDT: These projects involve using insights gained from pre-clinical studies to design early phase interventional trials for patients with cancers that are difficult to treat using current standard modalities.

Selected Publications

Zou W, Diffenderfer ES, Cengel KA, Kim MM, Avery S, Wiersma R, Carlson DJ, Busch TM, Koumenis C, Lin A, Metz JM, Teo BK, Dong L: Current Delivery Limitations of Proton PBS for FLASH 66th Annual Meeting of the Radiation Research Society : 2020.

Kim M, Shoniyozov K, Koumenis C, Metz J, Cengel KA, Dong L, Diffenderfer ES: Proton FLASH radiation with a spread-out Bragg peak 66th Annual Meeting of the Radiation Research Society : 2020.

Velalopoulou A, Karagounis I, Cramer G, Hagan S, Verginadis II, Goia D, Kim M, Shoniyozov K, Diffenderfer E, Dong L, Metz J, Koumenis C, Cengel K, Maity A, Busch TM: Proton FLASH radiation reduces radiation-induced skin toxicities and inflammation compared to standard proton radiation without compromising control of sarcoma tumors 66th Annual Meeting of the Radiation Research Society : 2020.

Kim M, Diffenderfer ES, Assenmacher CA, Karagounis I, Hagan S, Chiango J, Shoniyozov K, Dong L, Koumenis C, Maity A, Busch T, Metz JM, Huck JL.: A Pilot Study of FLASH vs Standard Dose Rate Proton Radiotherapy for Canine Osteosarcoma 66th Annual Meeting of the Radiation Research Society : 2020.

Cramer, G. M., Moon, E. K., Cengel, K. A., Busch, T. M.: Photodynamic Therapy and Immune Checkpoint Blockade Photochem Photobiol 96 (5): 954-961,2020.

Barsky AR, Lin H, Mendes A, Dreyfuss A, Wright C, Anstadt EJ, Berman AT, Levin WP, Cengel KA, Anderson N, Dong L, Metz JM, Li T, Feigenberg S.: Initial Clinical Experience Treating Patients With Lung Cancer on a 6MV-Flattening-Filter-Free O-Ring Linear Accelerator Cureus 12 (9): e10325,2020.

Barsky AR, Kim MM, Maxwell R, Mendes A, Wright CM, Anstadt EJ, McNulty S, Dong L, Metz JM, Feigenberg SJ, Li T, Cengel KA.: Initial clinical experience treating patients with palliative radiotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma on the HalcyonTM linear accelerator Ann Palliat Med 9 (5): 2903-2912,2020.

Jain, V., Niezink, A. G. H., Frick, M., Doucette, A., Mendes, A., Simone, C. B., 2nd, Langendijk, J. A., Wijsman, R., Feigenberg, S. J., Levin, W., Cengel, K. A., van der Schaaf, A., Berman, A. T.: Updating Photon-based Normal Tissue Complication Probability Models for Pneumonitis in Lung Cancer Patients Treated with Proton Beam Therapy Pract Radiat Oncol 10 (5): e330-e338,2020.

Friedberg JS, Simone CB, Culligan MJ, Putt ME, Barsky AR, Katz S, Cengel KA: Posterior Intercostal Lymph Nodes Double Recurrence and Death Risk in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. Ann Thorac Surg 110 (1): 241-250,2020.

Barsky, A. R., Kim, M. M., Williams, G. R., Lally, B. E., Ingram, W. S., Cengel, K. A., Feigenberg, S. J.: Proton-Beam Therapy: At the Heart of Cardiac Dose-Sparing in Mediastinal Radiotherapy for Thymic Carcinoma J Thorac Oncol 15 (7): 1240-1242,2020.

View all publications

Academic Contact Information

Smilow Center for Translational Research, Room 8-136
Univ of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
3400 Civic Center Blvd, Bldg 421
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-898-1035
Patient appointments: 800-789-7366