The Laboratory of Quantum Beam Science and Medical Engineering was launched under a new framework on July 1, 2013. Research involves the application of quantum beams and radiation to medicine, particularly the development of next-generation diagnostic and therapeutic methods through collaboration between medical and engineering scientists. The Proton Beam Therapy Center and the Department of Medical Physics of Hokkaido University Hospital both play important roles toward this goal. Joint research with the private sector is also actively promoted to further advance technology development through industry-academia collaboration.
Our laboratory staff include Associate Professors Taeko Matsuura and Naoki Miyamoto, Assistant Professors Sodai Tanaka, Seishin Takao (concurrent post) and Fujio Hiraga (concurrent post), Professor Satoshi Tomioka (concurrent post), Specially Appointed Professor Kikuo Umegaki (endowed chair), and Specially Appointed Assistant Professor Koichi Miyazaki (endowed chair). Master’s and doctoral students, including working students, at the Graduate School of Engineering and the Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering and undergraduate seniors at the School of Engineering are collaborating with research on specific themes.

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The Laboratory of Quantum Beam Science and Medical Engineering partners with the following institutions on research projects and other endeavors, promoting close collaboration between medical and engineering personnel.

Hokkaido’s first proton beam therapy center was established under the Japanese national project of the Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology (FIRST Program). At this center the world’s first molecular-tracking proton beam therapy system is developed through industry-academia collaboration by combining real-time tumor-tracking radiation therapy and spot-scanning irradiation techniques. Treatment of patients started here in March 2014. For more information, please visit the website of the Proton Beam Therapy Center of Hokkaido University Hospital.

For more information →「Proton Beam Therapy Center of Hokkaido University] Home page
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Evolving out of Hokkaido University Hospital’s Funded Research Division of Advanced Clinical Medical Physics, which was founded in 2006, the Department of Medical Physics was launched in 2019 as a clinical department responsible for medical physics procedures related to radiation therapy. The Department of Medical Physics currently has approximately 20 faculty and staff members. The main clinical activities of the department include treatment planning and quality control of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and proton beam therapy. Led by seven medical physicists, including Associate Professors Taeko Matsuura and Naoki Miyamoto and Assistant Professor Sodai Tanaka of the Faculty of Engineering, and Assistant Professor Seishin Takao of Hokkaido University Hospital, medical physics procedures for approximately 200 cases of IMRT and 100 cases of proton beam therapy are implemented annually. The department also overseas efforts into the development of advanced therapeutic techniques through national and other projects and the education of prospective medical physicists in partnership with the Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering and the Graduate School of Engineering.