Project Grant R21EB039076

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering awarded Brigham and Women's Hospital Inc. $268,500 on August 20, 2026, to develop and validate a biomimetic palpation system for intraoperative lung nodule localization and margin assessment during minimally invasive lung cancer surgery.

The award funds development of BiopalP, a novel tactile-sensing device that integrates multimodal haptic feedback with deep learning algorithms to enable surgeons to accurately localize small lung nodules and assess resection margins in real time without requiring intraoperative C-arm CT imaging. The system builds on prior work with LungNav, an electromagnetic navigation platform tested in 25 patients, and addresses two critical limitations: eliminating the need for intraoperative imaging (which increases procedure cost, time, and radiation exposure) and adding tumor margin assessment capability. BiopalP is designed to combine static indentation cues with vibration-induced sensing, mimicking human palpatory physiology and cancer mechanobiology, to detect nodule position despite tissue deformation during deflated-lung procedures. The work responds to the clinical problem that parenchymal-sparing surgeries such as wedge resection carry tumor recurrence rates nearly double those of lobectomy, primarily due to challenges in accurate nodule localization and complete resection with sufficient margins.

Work is performed in Boston, Massachusetts, with a period of performance through July 31, 2028. The award is issued under NIBIB's Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286), which supports hypothesis-, design-, technology-, or device-driven biomedical imaging and bioengineering research.