The Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory operated from 1949 to 2002. It was most notable for its contributions to the development of

proton therapy In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam ra ...

. The Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory was built with office of Naval Research funds between 1946 and 1949 to replace an earlier, lower energy, cyclotron that was sent to Los Alamos for use in the Manhattan Project. Richard Wilson, "A Brief History of the Harvard University Cyclotrons", Harvard University Press, 2004 Until 1961, the laboratory primarily performed experiments in physics. The lab performed research and development in particle physics (including ''particle detectors'' development and testing),

activation analysis Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is the nuclear process used for determining the concentrations of elements in many materials. NAA allows discrete sampling of elements as it disregards the chemical form of a sample, and focuses solely on atomic ...

, radiobiology, and

solid state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the l ...

. The use of proton particle accelerators for

external beam radiotherapy External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is the most common form of radiotherapy (radiation therapy). The patient sits or lies on a couch and an external source of ionizing radiation is pointed at a particular part of the body. In contrast to brachyt ...

was largely developed at this facility in collaboration with

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

. From 1961 to its closing, the laboratory provided proton therapy to over 9,000 patients. After 1974, "almost 3,000" patients were treated for ocular (eye) diseases. By the time the lab closed in 2002, its proton therapy treatments had been transferred to The ''Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center'' (then the ''Northeast Proton Therapy Center'') at Massachusetts General Hospital.

References

{{authority control Harvard University Laboratories in the United States Medical research institutes in the United States Nuclear medicine organizations Research institutes in Massachusetts Research institutes established in 1949 1949 establishments in Massachusetts 2002 disestablishments in Massachusetts Medical and health organizations based in Massachusetts

See also

References