Cedars-Sinai Demonstrates Experimental Device to Make Brain Tumors Glow

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center recently demonstrated an experimental new device to seventh- and eighth-grade students attending their Brainworks program (a program that allows science students to participate in hands-on medical activities) which allows brain tumors to glow using a special camera, laser, and imaging agent called Tumor Paint BLZ-100. The imaging process consists of two parts — deploying a fluorescent dye that sticks to only cancer calls, and using a laser and special camera to make an invisible image visible. The single-camera device takes both near-infrared and white light images simultaneously. The eye sees the normal light, but the camera captures the white light and near-infrared light over and over, allowing scientists to superimpose the two HD images. The image from the laser shows the tumor, and the image produced from the white light shows the landscape the tumor is in, to create the context for what the human eye can see. To read more, click here.