The National Science Foundation https//www.nsf.gov and engineers at Columbia University https://engineering.columbia.edu after being awarded $22,737,426, have created MediSCAPE, a technology that uses a high speed 3D microscope to provide real time images of live tissue cells.
MediSCAPE is a high speed 2D microscope that provides real time detailed images of live tissue cells. Instead of excising tissue for a biopsy, doctors will be able to examine living tissue using this technology.
According to Elizabeth Hillman PhD, Senior Author of the study “The way biopsy samples are processed hasn’t changed in 100 years”. Instead of excising tissue for a biopsy, doctors could examine living tissues by using this new technology.”
Dr. Hillman continues to explain, “This technology could give doctors real time feedback on what type of tissue they are looking at without the long wait. This instant answer would let them make informed decisions about how best to cut out a tumor and ensure there none of the tumor is left behind.”
One major benefit of the new approach to doing biopsies is risk reduction, especially in delicate and difficult to biopsy areas like the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and eyes. MediSCAPE also doesn’t require the use of fluorescent dye.
The team has created a smaller format version of MediSCAPE that could be used by a surgeon in an operating room and have developed plans to conduct a larger clinical trial as well as obtain FDA approval.