$25 Million Cyclotron Brings New Cancer Treatment to AL
A 90-ton cyclotron arrived Tuesday on the campus of UAB. The machine will be part of a new proton therapy center, bringing a specialized cancer treatment to Alabama.
A crowd gathered Tuesday to witness a crane lift the giant cyclotron and slowly lower it through a hole in the roof of a building. That building, called the UAB Proton Center, was built specifically to house the machine.
Dr. James Bonner, chairman of radiation oncology at UAB, watched from the street below.
“Well you can see it’s kind of a glob of metal right now,” Bonner said of the new cyclotron. “So it’s been put together in a tight format so it can be shipped across the ocean.”
The cyclotron was built in Germany and took about a month to make its way to Birmingham. It costs around $25 million. The device is owned by a company called Proton International, but UAB clinical staff will be in charge of operating it. Once it is up and running, the cyclotron will spin protons really fast and generate a beam of energy to target cancerous tumors. Bonner says this is the first time this kind of treatment will be available in Alabama.
“I don’t think it’s worth the investment to have one of these on every street corner,” Bonner says. “This is a type of radiation that’s very specific for certain types of tumors.”
He says the cyclotron is more precise than traditional radiation, so it doesn’t damage surrounding tissue. That is better for treating kids or targeting tumors at the base of the skull. Bonner says UAB hopes to treat its first patient with the machine in January of next year.
New York Giants hire John Harbaugh as coach after identifying him as their top choice
Harbaugh joins the Giants 11 days after he was fired by the Baltimore Ravens. The Super Bowl champion is now tasked with turning around a beleaguered franchise.
US launches new retaliatory strike in Syria, killing leader tied to deadly Islamic State ambush
A third round of retaliatory strikes by the U.S. in Syria has resulted in the death of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated leader, said U.S. Central Command.
NASA rolls out Artemis II craft ahead of crewed lunar orbit
Mission Artemis plans to send Americans to the moon for the first time since the Nixon administration.
Trump says 8 EU countries to be charged 10% tariff for opposing US control of Greenland
In a post on social media, Trump said a 10% tariff will take effect on Feb. 1, and will climb to 25% on June 1 if a deal is not in place for the United States to purchase Greenland.
‘Not for sale’: massive protest in Copenhagen against Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland
Thousands of people rallied in Copenhagen to push back on President Trump's rhetoric that the U.S. should acquire Greenland.
Uganda’s longtime leader declared winner in disputed vote
Museveni claims victory in Uganda's contested election as opposition leader Bobi Wine goes into hiding amid chaos, violence and accusations of fraud.
