From artificial intelligence tools to new fluorescent dyes to better identify blood vessels, researchers are putting federal money toward an ambitious goal: improving cancer surgery. Totalling up to $150 million, the awards are meant to help surgeons remove tumors in a single operation. They went to: — Dartmouth College, for a laparoscopic imaging tool for prostate cancer surgery, including 3D mapping and visualization. — Johns Hopkins University, for non-invasive imaging to give surgeons a more colorful view of surgery. JHU is also using fluorescent dyes, combined with endoscopes, to help surgeons more easily see blood vessels and nerves, so they don't accidentally cut them. — Rice University, for a microscope for imaging tumor slices and artificial intelligence algorithms to classify those cells. — Tulane University, for a high-resolution and 3D system that allows surgeons to see tumors more clearly and for an AI algorithm to identify cancer cells and quickly classify them. — University of California, San Francisco, for a microscope to help surgeons better see cancer cells and remove them before the end of surgical procedures, as well as a multi-cancer dying agent that's activated by enzyme activity in tumors. — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for an imaging test to identify suspicious tissue structures after surgery. — University of Washington, for a microscope system allowing surgeons to see the whole tumor surface and use AI to grayscale tumor images, so samples don't need to be physically dyed. — Medical equipment company Cision Vision, for advanced imaging techniques to help surgeons see blood vessels, veins and the lymphatic system without using dye. The White House announced the awards Tuesday. "One of the most devastating words anyone can hear, and it's not hyperbole, is cancer," President Joe Biden said at a press conference in New Orleans on Tuesday. "Imagine cancer surgery that removes all the tumor the first time without harming healthy cells," Biden said. The backstory: The awards stem from a call for proposals from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health last summer. ARPA-H's Precision Surgical Interventions program is among a series of cancer-related initiatives the agency has funded in service of Biden's cancer moonshot, which aims to improve people with cancer’s lives, while slashing the cancer death rate by half over 25 years. Why it matters: Nearly two million Americans are diagnosed with cancer each year, according to the American Cancer Society. Accidentally damaging healthy tissue can mean more operations, pain and extended hospital stays. Corrective procedures and treatments cost the U.S. more than $1 billion each year.
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