News & Updates
$9 Million Awarded to Penn Medicine to Further Research of Lung Cancer Technology
Monday, July 18, 2022
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is granting $9 million to Penn Medicine to advance its intraoperative imaging research. This technology, which has been pioneered by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, allows clinicians to illuminate tumor tissue in the lungs, increasing rates of successful detection and removal.
Intraoperative molecular imaging (IMI) utilizes fluorescent beacon molecules that target and bind to the cancer cells, causing them to glow. This allows doctors to differentiate cancerous tissue from healthy tissue with great precision. Researchers with the Center for Precision Surgery in the Abramson Cancer Center will use the grant to further study and improve IMI technology for non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC), the most common form of lung cancer.
Doctor Singhal, director of the Center for Precision Surgery in the Abramson Cancer Center, who has led the way in the research and development of IMI stated, “This funding gives us a tremendous opportunity to further evaluate this important technology and with the goal being to improve outcomes for patients. We aim to develop this technology even further and to study it in additional clinical trials to help improve surgical identification and removal of tumors.”
To conduct IMI treatment, fluorescent beacon molecules are infused into the patient hours or days before surgery. These molecules then bind to specific cell receptors that are particularly abundant on cancer cells. When beacons of light are then emitted in the area, doctors can clearly see cancerous tissue even up to two centimeters below the surface. During surgery, real-time imaging of the tissue can be done using portable, and relatively inexpensive IMI equipment. Additional trials have found that IMI may also have the potential to locate tumors during non-surgical bronchoscopy examinations of patients’ lungs.
The new grant-funded research endeavor intends to create enhanced NSCLC beacon molecules and imaging tools, then test them in clinical trials. Singhal and Edward Delikatny, Ph.D., a professor of radiology and the director of translational research at the Center for Precision Surgery, will oversee the clinical trials of the new technology at Penn Medicine.
Read more about this groundbreaking technology on Penn Medicine News.
Image retrieved from: https://www.pennmedicine.org/cancer/about/focus-on-cancer/2019/december/lets-get-screened-lung-cancer
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The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is granting $9 million to Penn Medicine to advance its intraoperative imaging research. This technology, which has been pioneered by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, allows clinicians to illuminate tumor tissue in the lungs, increasing rates of successful detection and removal.
Intraoperative molecular imaging (IMI) utilizes fluorescent beacon molecules that target and bind to the cancer cells, causing them to glow. This allows doctors to differentiate cancerous tissue from healthy tissue with great precision. Researchers with the Center for Precision Surgery in the Abramson Cancer Center will use the grant to further study and improve IMI technology for non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC), the most common form of lung cancer.
Doctor Singhal, director of the Center for Precision Surgery in the Abramson Cancer Center, who has led the way in the research and development of IMI stated, “This funding gives us a tremendous opportunity to further evaluate this important technology and with the goal being to improve outcomes for patients. We aim to develop this technology even further and to study it in additional clinical trials to help improve surgical identification and removal of tumors.”
To conduct IMI treatment, fluorescent beacon molecules are infused into the patient hours or days before surgery. These molecules then bind to specific cell receptors that are particularly abundant on cancer cells. When beacons of light are then emitted in the area, doctors can clearly see cancerous tissue even up to two centimeters below the surface. During surgery, real-time imaging of the tissue can be done using portable, and relatively inexpensive IMI equipment. Additional trials have found that IMI may also have the potential to locate tumors during non-surgical bronchoscopy examinations of patients’ lungs.
The new grant-funded research endeavor intends to create enhanced NSCLC beacon molecules and imaging tools, then test them in clinical trials. Singhal and Edward Delikatny, Ph.D., a professor of radiology and the director of translational research at the Center for Precision Surgery, will oversee the clinical trials of the new technology at Penn Medicine.
Read more about this groundbreaking technology on Penn Medicine News.
Image retrieved from: https://www.pennmedicine.org/cancer/about/focus-on-cancer/2019/december/lets-get-screened-lung-cancer