Louis Kunz
Visiting Master’s Student
Member of the lab: February to August 2023
About me: I grew up in Switzerland next to the French border and I’ve always been fascinated by science and willing to understand the world around me. I did a bachelor’s in Physics at EPFL with this very goal in mind. During my studies, I came to grow an interest in the relationship between the fundamental aspects of physics and the incredible complexity of biology and thus decided to pursue a biomedical engineering Master’s degree at ETHZ with a specialization in medical physics.
Research Interests: My research interests include Radiobiology, multi-scale modeling, Biophysics, and many others. I’m currently working on a dynamic tumor model called AMBER (Agent-based Model of Biophysical Evolution for Radiotherapy). The model takes a bottom-up approach, incorporating physical, and biological processes involved in cancer evolution and treatment response. Unlike existing models, AMBER aims at connecting cell-scale radiation effects with tumor-scale outcomes. The model includes factors such as different cell types, angiogenesis, oxygen concentration, and hypoxic and necrotic regions. It also incorporates radiation dose calculations using the TOPAS Monte Carlo toolkit. The model successfully replicates tumor development, including the formation of a necrotic core, and tumor growth limitations. We are currently working on the interface with radiation bioeffect models and integration with radiation delivery and DNA damage models.
Awards and Honors
- Scholars and Trainees Travel Award in the 17th International Congress for Radiation Research. 2023.
Conference talks
- Kunz L, Nikmaneshi MR, Chamseddine I, Schuemann J, Munn LL, Paganetti H, Bertolet A. Introducing AMBER (agent-based modeling of biophysical evolution after radiotherapy): a computational model for tumor response to radiation. Selected Abstract. International Conference on Radiation Research, Montreal, Canada, August 2023
- Kunz L, Nikmaneshi MR, Chamseddine I, Schuemann J, Munn LL, Paganetti H, Bertolet A. AMBER: a computational tumor model as the first step to simulate radiation response. Selected Abstract. Annual meeting of the Society of Mathematical Biology, Columbus, OH, July 2023
Publications
- Bobić, M, Huesa-Berral C, Terry JF, Kunz LV, Schuemann J, Fisher DR, Maitz C, and Bertolet A. “Monte Carlo Dosimetric Analyses on the Use of 90 Y-IsoPet Intratumoral Therapy in Canine Subjects.” Physics in Medicine & Biology, July 25, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/ad67a4.