Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects (NSERC partnered)

Presently doctors cannot easily see prostate cancer using imaging techniques like ultrasound imaging. This means that many biospy and treatment strategies are quite blind. It would be so much better if clinicians could visualize tumors and their environment and have a way to guide needle biopsies and to direct treatment to the areas that are needed while sparing healthy tissue. This could lead to safer treatment strategies that could improve the quality of life for men with this disease. Our team will develop a novel 3D ultrasound and optical imaging probe using microfabrication technology. This technology will allow for high-density 2D arrays which do not currently exist. Our team will first complete development in a lab-prototype, then implement transrectal/endoscopic form-factors, then test the devices in dog models & first-in-human pilot studies for colorectal cancer as well as prostate therapy image-guidance.