Scientists have developed a new mathematical tool that will speed a smart new type of radiotherapy into the first patient trials.

Physicists from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and two German research centers developed an algorithm to tackle a major current challenge in the development of microbeam radiation therapy, or MRT.

MRT uses high-energy x-ray beams narrower than a human hair to blast tumors with radiation while being gentle on healthy tissue, allowing the treatment to reach tumors where surgery is not possible—such as in the brain or lungs.