Antonio Sarno among winners of INFN Youth Grant

 

Antonio Sarno with the AGATA project is among the winners of the INFN Young Grant. Antonio Sarno is a research fellow at the Department of Physics "E. Pancini" of the University of Naples Federico II and a research associate of the INFN Section of Naples (Group 5: Technological and Interdisciplinary Research).

The project AGATA - Advanced GeAnt4-based platform for virtual clinical Trials in X-ray breAst imaging, Principal Investigator Antonio Sarno, PhD, has been approved and admitted for funding, following a competitive procedure issued by INFN's National Scientific Commission 5 to support the work of excellence of "young male and female researchers in the context of the Institution's own lines of research and technological development."

The project, in the amount of 164.6 k€ and lasting two years (2020-2021), was among the best 6 scientific proposals submitted in 2019 in this competition, out of a total of more than 40 projects. AGATA aims to develop a platform for the realization of in-silico clinical trials (i.e., only computational in nature, without intervention of patients or clinical apparatuses or medical personnel), in order to evaluate the performance and technological development of 2D and 3D X-ray imaging apparatuses, dedicated to the diagnosis of breast cancer. The development of the AGATA project focuses on the activities of the Medical Physics group of the Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini" and the INFN Section of Naples in the field of innovative technologies for diagnostic imaging of breast cancer. Researchers in Medical Physics from the Universities and INFN Sections of Pisa and Ferrara are also participating in this project.

For the first time, a platform will be developed that will allow simulation (with Monte Carlo computational codes originally developed for elementary particle physics projects at CERN in Geneva) of both mammographic apparatuses and next-generation apparatuses, such as digital breast tomosynthesis and dedicated breast computed tomography. Digital models of patients, which are essential for an in-silico analysis of equipment performance, will be derived from high-resolution clinical images obtained with dedicated breast CT apparatuses, made available by Prof. John Boone of the University of California at Davis (USA), who pioneered the development of such innovative types of scanners. Prof. Kristina Bliznakova of the Medical University of Varna (Bulgaria), an international expert in the development of computational models of the breast, is participating in the project. In-silico studies represent the frontier of research in the field because they will allow significant savings in the design, execution and cost of clinical trials while avoiding radiation dose to the patient.

AGATA is the result of knowledge developed as part of the Horizon 2020 European project "MaXIMA" (2017-209), in which the Medical Physics group of the Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini" participated, aimed at the study of 3D computational models of breast anatomy, for research in the field of X-ray diagnostics of breast cancer.