Development of a large-scale plasma source for the treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Peter Awakowicz; Professor Dr. Martin Weiss
• Subject Area: Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 501640545

In November 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the ‘WHO‘s Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer’. The overall aim of this campaign is to enhance the focus on this world-wide problem and promote urgent action towards elimination via (1) vaccination against human papillomavirus, (2) early detection and (3) prompt treatment. The WHO claims that a successful implementation of all three key steps, could reduce new cases of the disease by more than 40% avoid 5 million related deaths by 2050. This is especially important since invasive cervical cancer is still being the fourth most common cancer for women worldwide (270,000 deaths / year) and mostly associated with lifelong severe physical and emotional burdens of the disease and the radical therapeutic options that are currently employed.This project aims to develop non-thermal plasma sources as a minimally invasive and highly effective, next-generation therapy for the pre-cancerous condition, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Improved treatments of the condition would complement early detection, leading to lower rates of progression to cervical cancer. To achieve this, the project team combines expertise in engineering and medicine to characterize biologically active plasma components and their interactions with cervical cells and tissue. Based on these studies, new plasma source designs will be implemented with the aim of achieving homogeneous and reproducible treatment of CIN in the clinical setting.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants (Transfer Project)
• Application Partner: Erbe Elektromedizin GmbH
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Andrew Robert Gibson