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RESEARCH PROJECT

Funding Institution
European Commission
Start date
01-10-2020
End date
30-09-2027

HYPERPROBE

Revolutionising brain surgery with multi-wavelength spectral imaging and artificial intelligence.

EIC-Pathfinder-HYPERPROBE-Research-Project-LABS

Objectives

In recent years, through the advancement of imaging technologies (such as MRI, PET, CT, among others) clinical localisation of lesions of the central nervous system (CNS) pre-surgery has made possible for neurosurgeons to plan and navigate away from functional brain locations when removing tumours.

However, neuronavigation in the surgical management of brain tumours remains a significant challenge, due to the inability to maintain accurate spatial information of lesioned and non-lesioned locations intraoperatively. To answer this challenge, we have put together a team of engineers, physicists, data scientists and neurosurgeons to develop an innovative, all-optical intraoperative imaging system based on hyperspectral imaging (HSI) for rapid, multi wavelength spectral acquisition, and artificial intelligence (AI) for image reconstruction and molecular fingerprint recognition.

We will validate the developed capacity in phantoms, in vivo against gold standard modalities in neuronavigational imaging, and finally provide proof of principle during brain tumour surgery. HyperProbe aims at providing functional and structural information on biomarkers of interest that is currently missing during neuro-oncological interventions.

Outcomes

HYPERPROBE is constructing a new optical imaging device that will improve brain surgery by providing enhanced information to neurosurgeons during surgery. The HyperProbe device will provide real-time, high spatial resolution brain tissue images. It will resolve brain tissue cellular and molecular biomarkers with high specificity and sensitivity.

Furthermore, it will implement AI and ML approaches for data analysis and image reconstruction for a variety of purposes. The HyperProbe device will be a compact instrument allowing surgeons to easily use it, read the data it provides and integrate it with existing instrumentation. This will contribute to enhance patients’ treatments and life expectancy.