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The Polythermic Neutrons group, from USP’s School of Engineering (Poli), won the nuclear medicine category in the 2024 Brazilian Nuclear Olympiad, organized by the Brazilian Association for the Development of Nuclear Activities (ABDAN). The competition began in April this year and the winners were announced at the beginning of November at the Nuclear Summit 2024 event, with the theme challenge Cancer treatment: how can Brazil advance in the implementation of new technologies?
“We chose to take part in the medical category because it was something new for us and because we didn’t have much contact with this sector during our undergraduate studies,” says Luana Gomes da Silva, one of the members of the group, from the Materials Engineering course. The team also includes students Álvaro Sant’Anna Ferreira Neto, Enzo Yamamoto, João Pedro Oliveira Glóder Prado and Thais Kaori Yazawa, all from the first class of Poli’s Nuclear Engineering course, entrants in 2021.
They developed NPoli, a suite of software for scheduling medical appointments, exams and radiotherapy sessions, which aims to reduce barriers and speed up the stages of treatment in this area of medicine. “Some of the functions offered by the platform are: Smart Radiotherapy Scheduling; Integration with Exam Regulation and Management Systems; Control Panel for Physicians and Healthcare Professionals; and Automated Notifications and Interactivity with Patients,” explains Luana.
Inspired by the main international private solutions, such as Varian’s ARIA and Elekta’s Mosaiq, and the systems used by the SUS (Unified Health System), such as Sisreg and e-SUS APS, NPoli has a simplified interface, making it easy to use for different audiences, and integrates with the health regulation systems already in place in Brazil. The idea was to create a system that would adapt to the decentralized reality of the SUS, serving both large centers and less favored regions. Another difference is that, unlike private solutions, NPoli’s focus is on inclusion and accessibility, facilitating communication with patients. The platform also offers the possibility of managing the use of hospital resources, such as radiotherapy machines, optimizing their use and reducing waiting times.
The project report is available in PDF format. The video presentation can be watched here or in the player below:
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Unequal access to treatment
Currently, according to the Ministry of Health, cancer is the second leading cause of death in Brazil and could become the first by 2030. This scenario highlights the inequality of access to radiotherapy, a treatment that treats 52% of cancer patients in the early stages. In Brazil, where more than 75% of the population depends on the SUS, only 25% of nuclear medicine treatments, which are essential for diagnosis, are carried out by the public health system, and around 70% of nuclear medicine and radiotherapy services are concentrated in the South and Southeast regions.
To develop the platform, the group went through several stages that included tests, lectures, and monthly meetings with mentors – appointed by ABDAN and divided into the sub-areas of the Olympiad – to guide the development of ideas and discuss possible solutions. The students also had the opportunity to attend lectures by renowned specialists in the radiotherapy sector, who provided a technical and practical view of the challenges facing this area in Brazil.
Throughout the process, the groups had to develop a scientific article and present their ideas and progress in the form of pitches (short video presentations) to the mentors and coordinators. “Not only did we acquire in-depth technical knowledge about radiotherapy, a field previously unknown to us, but we also got to know the reality faced by patients in the Unified Health System (SUS),” says Luana.
The project is at the Minimum Viable Product stage of development and is economically feasible, with the potential for scalability, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “We believe that initiatives like this are essential to connecting science and engineering to real solutions that can have a positive impact on society,” said the members of the group.
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Brazilian Nuclear Olympiad
The Brazilian Nuclear Olympiad lasts eight months. At the end, each team presents a written scientific article and a pitch video explaining the proposed solution. A panel of five experts for each topic analyzes the articles according to established criteria.
The aim is to boost the nuclear industry by promoting interaction between industry representatives, regulatory authorities, academia, and other stakeholders (individuals and organizations impacted by a company’s actions). The competition lays the foundations for a nuclear ecosystem with important results for Brazil and seeks to attract motivated youngsters with the potential to be future managers of complex projects in the nuclear area.
In 2024, the competition had a record number of participants, with a total of 78 eligible candidates from 29 universities, spread across eight states and the Federal District. In addition to the Poli group, the winners of the edition were NucleAtech – which proposed solutions to speed up the construction of nuclear power plants – and ANVerde – which sought solutions to increase the sustainability of uranium mining projects.
The winning solutions were honored at the Nuclear Legacy 2024 event, organized by ABDAN, in Rio de Janeiro, on November 5 and 6, 2024. In addition, they were selected to take part in a six month incubation period, from March to September 2025, at the Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology (Cietec), located at the Institute of Nuclear and Energy Research (Ipen). “We are determined to continue developing the platform, which we believe has the potential to transform the reality of radiotherapy in Brazil,” concludes Luana.
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*Intern under the supervision of Thais H. Santos and Claudia Costa
English version: Nexus Traduções
