FLASHlab@PITZ - a multidisciplinary R&D platform at the Photo Injector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ) allowing R&D on FLASH radiation therapy (RT) and radiation biology in an uniquely wide parameter range.
 
The recent observation that radiation therapy treatments with ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) and sufficiently high total dose in short time intervals leads to considerably less toxicities at equal therapeutic response of the tumor, elicited enormous resonance in the radiation oncology community. Radiation oncologists around the globe strive for a rapid clinical exploitation of the differential response of tumor and normal tissue, which was termed FLASH effect.
Many of the ultra-high dose rates (UHDR) and FLASH radiation therapy (RT) community’s recommendations on future research focus areas could be addressed in the coming years with the expansion of the FLASHlab@PITZ R&D. The extremely wide parameter range for studying electron UHDR and FLASH RT accessible at the PITZ facility at DESY together with its full
flexibility and tight beam control capabilities gives worldwide unique opportunities to push forward the understanding, optimization and application of UHDR and FLASH RT.
The unique beam parameters of the PITZ accelerator could transform the facility into one of the leading radiation oncology research centers with a focus on FLASH and spatially fractionated radiation therapy exploring the translation of elementary radiation research
questions into safe clinical trials.

The white paper "Support the build-up of FLASHlab@PITZ and make it available for the FLASH RT and radiation biology communities" was issued in November 2022 in order to open up the FLASHlab@PITZ platform for global scientific community and target its development. Until January 2023 26 letters of support were collected. The cooperation and networking is ongoing.