Cancer remains a global challenge. According to the WHO, about 1 in 5 people develop cancer in their lifetime, with almost 10 million cancer-related deaths occurring in 2022 [source]. The role of accurate cancer diagnosis and treatment is therefore crucial, especially for brain tumor patients where approximately 60% of patients experience a relapse within 5 years. 

The Molecular Brain Tumor Detector project focuses on developing mass spectrometry to differentiate between cancer and normal tissue in real time during brain tumor resection surgery. 

Scientists from the Maastricht MultiModal Molecular Institute (M4I) and UZ Leuven previously intensively studied the use of an intelligent knife or ‘iKnife’, an electrosurgical knife connected to a mass spectrometer, in clinical applications of brain tumors (glioma). Their study showed that, within a few seconds, the iKnife can differentiate between normal brain and different types of brain tumors with an 88% overall accuracy, and could classify the different tumors with more than 95% precision [source]. However, the current system has disadvantages which hinder its implementation in the operating room, such as size, noise and costs.

Molecular Brain Tumor Detector aims to address this problem by developing a compact mass spectrometry system with a user-friendly interface for rapid recognition of cancer tumors during surgery. In this project, Aspect Analytics will develop a central database to store the mass spectrometry data measured in the brain tumor samples, and use their expertise to develop machine learning models that distinguish tumors from healthy tissue based on the measured biomolecular profiles. Furthermore, Aspect Analytics will generate prototypes of the software used by operating physicians in this project.

This project is a partnership between 

• Universiteit Maastricht - Dr. Eva Cuypers, Helen Schott, Sef Janssen, Wesley Leeraert
• Academisch Ziekenhuis Maastricht - Dr. Olaf Schijns
• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Steven De Vleeschouwer
• Ziekenhuis Oost Limburg A.V. - Dr. Thomas Daenekindt, Christophe Smeets, Senne Boeckx
• AZ Groeninge - Wim Naets
• Next Generation Sensors BV (SME) - Hugo Nikkel, Sarfaraz Syed
• Aspect Analytics NV (SME) - Nico Verbeeck, Marc Claesen

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This is an Interreg Flanders-Netherlands project. For more information, see https://interregvlaned.eu/molecular-brain-tumor-detector/over-ons