Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have developed a groundbreaking tool that boosts surgeons’ ability to detect and remove cancer cells during cryosurgery, a technique that uses extreme cold to target tumors. This innovative technology incorporates a specialized nanoscale material that causes cancer cells to glow under freezing conditions, allowing for clearer differentiation from healthy tissue and enhancing the precision of the surgery.
The Trabolsi Research Group at NYUAD has developed a groundbreaking nanoscale covalent organic framework (nTG-DFP-COF) that enhances its fluorescence in response to extreme cold. This innovation enables clear differentiation between cancerous and healthy tissues during surgery.
Created by Dr. Gobinda Das, a researcher in the Trabolsi Group, the material is designed to be biocompatible and minimally toxic, ensuring safe interaction within the body. Crucially, it retains its fluorescent properties even when ice crystals form inside cells, allowing real-time monitoring during cryosurgery.
This advancement significantly enhances the precision and safety of cryosurgical procedures by enabling surgeons to preserve more healthy tissue while effectively targeting cancer cells. It also merges diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities into a single platform, potentially reducing the need for repeat surgeries and accelerating patient recovery.
Fluorescence imaging, a non-invasive technique that uses light-sensitive dyes to highlight tumors, has become a valuable tool in real-time surgery. However, its application in cryosurgery has been largely unexplored until now.
“We believe this is a transformative tool that could revolutionize cancer surgery,” said Farah Benyettou, Ph.D., a research scientist in the Trabolsi Research Group at NYU Abu Dhabi. “By making tumor removal more precise, this technology has the potential to reduce additional surgeries and accelerate patient recovery. It’s a major step forward in treating aggressive, hard-to-target cancers.”
“This breakthrough bridges the gap between imaging and therapy, providing surgeons with a real-time tool to visualize and remove cancer with unprecedented precision,” said Ali Trabolsi, Professor of Chemistry and principal investigator of the Trabolsi Research Group at NYU Abu Dhabi. “By integrating fluorescence imaging with cryosurgery, we are pushing the boundaries of cancer treatment and offering new hope for patients with difficult-to-treat tumors.”
The study was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
