Interest is growing in a deeper cooperation between different health and research facilities in Brandenburg. That is the message coming out of a visit of the president of the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) to the DESY campus in Zeuthen. Gesine Grande, the BTU president, and Michael Hübner, BTU’s vice president for research and transfer, visited the campus on 4 July. With an eye on further technological and healthcare developments in the Lusatia region of Germany, they had a particularly close eye on the Photo-injector Test Stand in Zeuthen (PITZ), which provides the ideal conditions for such collaborations. They were accompanied by DESY Astroparticle Physics Director and Zeuthen Campus Leader Christian Stegmann and Zeuthen Accelerator Group Leader Frank Stephan.

In the last months and years, the concept of a “Healthcare Region” in Lusatia has provided a major contribution to the structural development of the area around Cottbus. Through this effort, Cottbus has gained a new hallmark and becomes a more attractive place for stronger institutional cooperation. New medical treatments and innovations could be more easily and efficiently developed through such collaboration.

For the visit of the BTU delegation, DESY’s research in the area of novel radiotherapy is particularly attractive. “We see ourselves in the region as a bridge between Berlin and Lusatia,” Stegmann said of the visit. “In this context, we want to also strengthen our connection to Cottbus. Together with the Health Region Lusatia, we want to develop modern methods of radiotherapy.”

Particularly interesting was the PITZ accelerator, which is the only research-oriented particle accelerator in the state of Brandenburg. This facility enables unique research opportunities, such as the development and optimisation of electron sources like those used for the European XFEL and the development of the world’s first terahertz free-electron laser. A particular focus lay with the use of PITZ for radiobiology and radiotherapy. PITZ is simultaneously used to research how the facility can be used for FLASH radiation therapy, a new method of cancer treatment. FLASH therapy could offer a drastic reduction of side effects as compared to current radiotherapy, as well as significantly reducing the treatment times for cancer patients.

“We’ve gained an impressive view into the work happening at the DESY research campus,” Grande said. “There are many exciting interfaces for cooperation with the research centres at BTU and other scientific partners in the region. I am looking forward to an inspiring collaboration.”

The meeting was a successful start to further intensifying cooperation in the context of structural change in Brandenburg. The aim is to identify potential partners in the region and develop innovative projects together.