# Chip-Scale Intraoperative Optical Navigation with Immunotargeted Upconverting Nanoparticles

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2023 · $655,333

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Residual cancer cells left behind following surgery increase the chance of cancer returning
in almost every cancer subtype. The current inability to identify these tumor cells during surgery
hinders cancer care across the spectrum, including breast and prostate cancers, as 20-40% of
these patients suffer from positive margins, which doubles the risk of cancer returning.
 This proposal solves this problem through an original approach for ultrasensitive optical
imaging of cancer cells in live tissue and during surgery. Current intraoperative imaging methods
are unable to achieve high sensitivity both on the tissue surface and at depth due to inherent
physical limits of both current optical probes and their requisite imagers. They are also too bulky
to be integrated onto modern surgical tools, which could guide precision surgery with far greater
accuracy than achievable today. Here, we address these dual challenges by introducing a wholly
new imaging strategy integrating nanotechnology, protein engineering, and advanced imager
design with the goal of real-time highly sensitive intraoperative imaging of cancer cells, both on
the surface and at depth. We propose major advances in nanotechnology to redesign
upconverting nanoparticles as optical probes that can be safely imaged in tissue, protein
engineering to produce antibodies that selectively target the probes to tumor, and detector
engineering to build an ultrathin imaging chip, directly integrated into surgical instrumentation.
The combination of these novel technologies transforms instruments themselves into imagers to
dramatically increase the sensitivity in identifying cancer cells, with the ultimate goal of being able
to identify, in real time, all residual disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10743477
- **Project number:** 1R01CA278672-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Mekhail Anwar
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $655,333
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-06-15 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10743477

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10743477, Chip-Scale Intraoperative Optical Navigation with Immunotargeted Upconverting Nanoparticles (1R01CA278672-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10743477. Licensed CC0.

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