Welcome to the homepage of the Medical Physics group of the Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini" at the University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy, also affiliated with INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics), INFN Napoli Branch.
In this group, we develop and apply physical technologies for Medical Physics, specifically in the field of Medical Imaging, with applications to Mammography, Breast CT, Digital Breast Tomosynthesis, Breast Dosimetry, Small Animal SPECT, Digital Autoradiography, Phase Contrast Mammography, Synchrotron Radiation Breast CT, and in the field of Radiation Dosimetry with radiochromic films and Thermoluminescence dosimeters, Monte Carlo methods for Breast Dosimetry, and Breast keV Radiotheraphy .
Details on ongoing projects can be found in the Research section.
The group of Medical Physics is co-founder of the Medipix1 Collaboration and co-founder and member of the Medipix2 Collaboration, based at CERN, for the development and application of photon counting detectors in medical imaging, including the readout circuits Medipix2 and Timepix, with four main applications:
- Compact gamma camera for clinical Nuclear Medicine applications
The group realized a CdTe based semiconductor compact gamma camera based on the Medipix2 and then on the Timepix photon counting detectors, for in vivo preoperative imaging of Tc-99m injected radiotracers for sentinel lymph node imaging.
- Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) for preclinical small animal imaging
The group realized a micro SPECT system for small animal imaging with I-125 and Tc-99m imaging, adopting the Medipix2/Timepix photon counting CdTe detector, featuring high spatial resolution with a coded aperture mask collimator.
- Digital autoradiography with gamma, beta and positron emitters
A system has been assembled (CdTe Timepix detector) and tested with I-125, P-32, F-18, Tc-99m, for autoradiography of cells, DNA fragments, biological tissues, featuring high spatial resolution and real time imaging.
- CT/SPECT for in vivo breast imaging
The group realized a cone-beam CT system dedicated to the breast, with a SPECT system based on a compact CdTe gamma camera and a pinhole collimator, using the Timepix readout circuit.
The group participates to the EU funded MaXIMA project for breast imaging research.
For details on the members of the group, see the Staff section.
For available post doctoral research positions and PhD studentships, please see the Positions section or contact the head of group directly, Prof. Paolo Russo.