Forum speaker 2026

Sergey Taskaev

The physicist who led the creation of a compact accelerator-based neutron source for cancer treatment

Doctor of Physical and Mathematical SciencesNovosibirsk
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Sergey Taskaev
About the speaker

Sergey Taskaev leads the development of VITA, an accelerator-based neutron source for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). It is a radiation method that destroys tumour cells point by point and spares the healthy tissue around them. This source is not a nuclear reactor, and it can work right in a clinic.

Laureate of the 2024 Vyzov National Prize for Future Technologies, Engineering Solution category

  • Chief Researcher, Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
  • Head of the Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Laboratory, Novosibirsk State University
  • President of the FORA Foundation for the Development of Neutron Capture Therapy

2024

Vyzov Prize, Engineering Solution

2.3 MeV

VITA proton beam energy, at a current of up to 10 mA

36

animals with tumours treated on VITA to implement the direct method of dose measurement

2027–2028

planned clinical trials at the N. N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology

What he works on

What boron neutron capture therapy is

The method was proposed almost a century ago but is only now reaching clinics: it needs a powerful yet compact neutron source. That is exactly what Taskaev's group has built.

1

Boron in the tumour

The patient receives a drug with the non-radioactive isotope boron-10. It builds up in the tumour cells.

2

A neutron beam

The tumour area is irradiated with neutrons. A boron-10 nucleus captures a neutron.

3

A pinpoint strike

The nucleus splits into particles with a very short range. They destroy the tumour cell and barely touch the healthy tissue next to it.

VITA (Vacuum Insulated Tandem Accelerator) is a trademark for an accelerator-based neutron source that consists of a vacuum-insulated tandem accelerator, a lithium target and a neutron beam shaping system, and is used for boron neutron capture therapy.

The path of the technology

From the lab to the clinic

  1. 2016

    The monograph Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, edited by S. Yu. Taskaev and V. V. Kanygin, was published by the SB RAS Publishing House.

  2. 2022

    The first 15 cats and dogs with spontaneous tumours were treated on VITA; the results were published in the journal Biology.

  3. 2022

    A VITA facility built at the Budker Institute began treating patients at a BNCT clinic in Xiamen, China.

  4. 2024

    The Vyzov Prize, awarded for developing a compact accelerator-based neutron source suitable for a wide range of research, including neutron capture therapy.

  5. 2027–2028

    According to plans published in February 2026, clinical trials of BNCT will be held on a Russian VITA facility at the N. N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology.

Boron neutron capture therapy was proposed almost a hundred years ago, but because it is so hard to implement, it is only now starting to enter clinical practice.

Sergey Taskaev · Interview with Atomic Energy 2.0, December 2024

Research

Selected publications

Full list of publications

Hear the speaker at the forum

October 15, 2026, Yekaterinburg, Glavny Prospekt arts center. The time of the talk is in the forum program.

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