Stefan Bartzsch received is diploma in physics at the University of Jena and started his research in radiation oncology with a PhD at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) in Heidelberg 2011-2014. He developed dose calculation and dosimetry methods for a microbeam therapy, a still experimental radiation therapy approach at the European Synchrotron in Grenoble (France).

Between 2014 and 2017 Stefan Bartzsch developed the concept of a compact lab or hospital based synchrotron for microbeam therapy at the Institute of Cancer Research in London (UK). Among others he carried out his research using a Cancer Research UK pioneer award.

With this knowledge he moved to Klinikum r. d. Isar and Helmholtz Munich to construct a first prototype of this device. In 2019 Stefan Bartzsch received an Emmy Noether fellowship by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for these developments and established his research team Experimental Medical Physics at the Institute for Radiation Medicine at the Helmholtz Munich.

Today the team of Stefan Bartzsch aims to use the temporal and spatial pattern of radiation to improve cancer care and reduce treatment side effects. The focus are spatially fractionated radiation therapy and high dose rate radiation therapy, promising new treatment perspectives for some of the most deadly cancer diseases, such as tumours in the lung and brain. The highly interdisciplinary team consisting of engineers, physicists, physicians and biologists tackles the challenge of clinical translation. They model biological effects, analyze preclinical data, implement technical solutions and investigate clinical applications in treatment planning studies. Stefan Bartzsch and his team are internationally well connected with collaborators in Europe, Australia and America.