Institut für Anatomie

Team

I am a Radiobiologist who specializes in the use of Synchrotron radiation as a novel treatment for cancer (currently melanoma and lung cancer).
I hold a position as Postdoc and Animal Facility Manager for the Institute of Anatomy. I am also Lecturer for the Master program in Biomedical Engineering.

My main research collaborations are with both the European Synchrotron and the Australian Synchrotron. In those facilities, I employ rectangular parallel microbeams of 25-50 um of Synchrotron x-rays at ultra-high "FLASH" dose rates (300-14000 Gy/s); while the microbeams are spaced by 200-400 um from center to center. These physical parameters increase significantly the normal tissue tolerance to the radiation treatment while effectively targeting the tumor.

Previous to this appointment, I spent 6 years working towards understanding the effects of Synchrotron Radiation in normal brain tissue after Experimental Brain Radiotherapy using Synchrotron Radiation. Within this topic, I studied Radiation-Induced Bystander Effects in-vivo and in vitro, DNA damage caused by Synchrotron radiation, and effects of low-doses of ionizing radiation, mainly: Low-dose hyper-radiosensitivity, increased radioresistance, and adaptive responses.

Publications relevant to Synchrotron Microbeam Radiotherapy:

  1. Fernandez-Palomo C, Fazzari J, Trappetti V, Smyth L, Janka H, Laissue J, et al. Animal Models in Microbeam Radiation Therapy: A Scoping Review. Cancers 2020;12:527. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12030527.
  2. Potez M, Fernandez-Palomo C, Bouchet A, Trappetti V, Donzelli M, Krisch M, et al. Synchrotron Microbeam Radiation Therapy as a New Approach for the Treatment of Radioresistant Melanoma: Potential Underlying Mechanisms. International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics 2019;105:1126–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2019.08.027.
  3. Smith R, Wang J, Seymour C, Fernandez-Palomo C, Fazzari J, Schültke E, et al. Homogenous and Microbeam X-Ray Radiation Induces Proteomic Changes in the Brains of Irradiated Rats and in the Brains of Nonirradiated Cage Mate Rats. Dose-Response 2018;16:155932581775006. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559325817750068.
  4. Potez M, Trappetti V, Bouchet A, Fernandez-Palomo C, Güç E, Kilarski WW, et al. Characterization of a B16-F10 melanoma model locally implanted into the ear pinnae of C57BL/6 mice. PLoS ONE 2018;13:e0206693. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206693.
  5. Ghita M, Fernandez-Palomo C, Fukunaga H, Fredericia PM, Schettino G, Bräuer-Krisch E, et al. Microbeam evolution: from single cell irradiation to pre-clinical studies. International Journal of Radiation Biology 2018;94:708–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/09553002.2018.1425807.
  6. Fernandez-Palomo C, Schültke E, Bräuer-Krisch E, Laissue JA, Blattmann H, Seymour C, et al. Investigation of Abscopal and Bystander Effects in Immunocompromised Mice After Exposure to Pencilbeam and Microbeam Synchrotron Radiation: Health Physics 2016;111:149–59. https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000000525.
  7. Fernandez-Palomo C, Mothersill C, Bräuer-Krisch E, Laissue J, Seymour C, Schültke E. γ-H2AX as a Marker for Dose Deposition in the Brain of Wistar Rats after Synchrotron Microbeam Radiation. PLoS ONE 2015;10:e0119924. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119924.
  8. Fernandez-Palomo C, Bräuer-Krisch E, Laissue J, Vukmirovic D, Blattmann H, Seymour C, et al. Use of synchrotron medical microbeam irradiation to investigate radiation-induced bystander and abscopal effects in vivo. Physica Medica 2015;31:584–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2015.03.004.
  9. Mothersill C, Fernandez-Palomo C, Fazzari J, Smith R, Schültke E, Bräuer-Krisch E, et al. Transmission of Signals from Rats Receiving High Doses of Microbeam Radiation to Cage Mates: An Inter-Mammal Bystander Effect. Dose-Response 2014;12:dose-response.1. https://doi.org/10.2203/dose-response.13-011.Mothersill.
  10. Fernandez-Palomo C, Schültke E, Smith R, Bräuer-Krisch E, Laissue J, Schroll C, et al. Bystander effects in tumor-free and tumor-bearing rat brains following irradiation by synchrotron X-rays. International Journal of Radiation Biology 2013;89:445–53. https://doi.org/10.3109/09553002.2013.766770.
  11. Fernandez-Palomo C, Bräuer-Krisch E, Trippel M, Schroll C, Requardt H, Bartzsch S, et al. DNA double strand breaks in the acute phase after synchrotron pencilbeam irradiation. J Inst 2013;8:C07005–C07005. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/8/07/C07005.