Novosibirsk cat receives advanced therapy to aid human cancer studies
Prior to therapy, animals are scanned on a high-end tomograph that captures detailed images.
Ada the cat from a Novosibirsk shelter was examined on a tomograph in Akademgorodok and taken to Tomsk for neutron capture radiation therapy. Over years of living in poor conditions, she developed multiple malignant tumors.
For several years, the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization «Siberian Research Center for Medicine and Biotechnology» (ANO «Sibbiotech») has been helping animals with tumors, collaborating with laboratories at Novosibirsk State University (NSU), Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), and other institutes. The work is primarily research-based, with the goal of accumulating a sufficient number of successful cases.
‘Under the program, since 2021 we have been conducting neutron capture radiation therapy on cats and dogs with spontaneous malignant tumors. The method has been used on over 120 animals with neoplasms of various origins,’ project curator Nikolai Kanygin told NGS. ‘These tumors are identical to human ones, and from the perspective of researching beam properties and method properties, this is much more promising. We had a hypothesis that the radioprotector would accumulate selectively, destroying specifically tumor cells, and it was confirmed: tumors are destroyed.’
Neutron capture radiation therapy is not yet performed on humans in Russia, but the research by Siberian scientists could bring closer the day when it becomes available for widespread use in domestic medicine.
In December 2025, NGS reported that a hospital for animals opened in Akademgorodok. This is a new start for the already known project — the «Animal Rehabilitation Base,» which operated for a long time in Koltsovo.
