Nigerian Engineer Wins Award For Creating Cancer Seeing Glasses

As head of the Washington University
optical radiology laboratory — where
researchers study how to use light to
improve diagnosis and treatment of
disease — Samuel Achilefu heard from
surgeons frustrated by the difficulty of
removing every remnant of a patient’s
cancerous tumor.
Before surgery, imaging tests involving
big, high-tech machines can create
detailed pictures of a person’s cancer,
Achilefu said, “but when a patient is in
the operating room, it’s like walking in
the dark.”
(Story continued below...)
Achilefu wondered, what if he could take
imaging technology and make it wearable
like night-vision goggles used in the
military so surgeons could see the cancer
while they are operating?
The technology would be extremely
difficult — some even thought impossible
— to miniaturize and make functional
and wearable for hours. But after
dedicating five years to the project,
Achilefu created cancer-visualizing
glasses that were successfully used in
surgeries for first time last year.
On Wednesday, the Nigerian-born
scientist won the prestigious St. Louis
Award for 2014 for his work in creating
the technology, which could affect? the
outcomes of cancer patients across the
world.
At the awards ceremony, Achilefu, 52,
told the crowd his work was driven by
the question: What if? “?‘What if’ is
really telling us that we should not be
focusing on the problem,” he said, “but
the potential solution for it.”
Achilefu is the 87th person to receive the
annual award since it was established
in1931 — the worst of the depression
years — by prominent philanthropist
David P. Wohl. The shoe company owner
anonymously founded the award to
recognize a St. Louis area resident who
“performed such a service as to bring
greatest honor to the community.” Wohl
hoped to foster optimism and pride in the
city he loved.
Award committee president David
Kemper, chairman and of Commerce
Bancshares Inc., praised Achilefu for
“putting St. Louis in the spotlight for
advancements in optical imaging
technology that have pushed the
boundaries of cancer treatment.”
Even under high magnification, it’s
nearly impossible for surgeons to tell
where a cancer tumor ends and healthy
tissue begins. To make sure they remove
all the cancerous cells, surgeons remove
the tumor and neighboring tissue. The
samples are sent to a lab and viewed
under a microscope. If the surrounding
tissue contains cancer cells, a second
surgery is performed to remove even
more tissue. Among breast cancer
patients, about 20 to 25 percent who have
cancerous lumps removed require a
second surgery.
The glasses were used for the first time
during a breast cancer operation on Feb.
10 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and have
since been used on more than? two dozen
people with breast cancer, melanoma or
liver cancer?.
A commonly used contrast agent is
injected into the patient’s tumor. When
viewed with near-infared light, the
cancerous cells glow blue. Tumors as
small as 1 millimeter in diameter (as
thick as about 10 sheets of paper) can be
detected.
Breast surgeon Dr. Julie Margenthaler is
encouraged. “Imagine what it would
mean if these glasses eliminated the need
for follow-up surgery and the associated
pain, inconvenience and anxiety,” she
said.

Achilefu started his research into the
eyewear using funds from the university
and the Department of Defense’s Breast
Cancer Research Program. He assembled a
team that included engineers and video
game specialists to further refine the
glasses. After successfully using the
technology in rodents, his team received
in 2012 a $2.8 million federal grant,
paving the way for use in patients. The
results will soon be used to seek FDA
approval of the device so other surgeons
across the country — who have already
been calling — can start using it.
In 2001, Gill Jost, former chair of the
radiology department, was searching
across the country for an optical chemist
to lead the laboratory at Washington U. It
turned out, the best candidate was in St.
Louis. Achilefu had since 1992 been
working here for Mallinckrodt Inc.,
rising in the ranks as a star chemist.
As one of the top five students in Nigeria,
Achilefu won a scholarship from the
French government to study at the
University of Nancy. He excelled and
went on to earn his post-doctoral degree
at Oxford University.
He came to St. Louis at the urging of his
mentor, who was hired by Mallinckrodt
to start a new research department.
Despite being recruited by research
institutions across the world, he chose to
stay in St. Louis when he made the switch
to academia. Married with two young
children, Achilefu said he had come to
love the city and see it as his home.
Jost said what makes Achilefu a great
scientist is not only his diverse expertise
in chemistry, cell biology, biomedical
engineering and even genetics, but an
intense curiosity that makes him delight
in any challenge.
Achilefu also fosters that same
determination in those who work in his
lab. “It’s such a joy to watch how he
nurtures people,” Jost said. His team is
always pushing the boundaries of what is
possible.
Achilefu is also seeking FDA approval for
a promising new contrast agent he helped
develop. The agent selectively enters
cancer cells anywhere in the body and
stays there for up to a week, causing all
different types of cancer cells to glow the
same. The agent could help deliver toxic
drugs directly to cancer cells, avoiding
healthy cells altogether.
While the St. Louis Award recognizes a
significant contribution by the winner,
Achilefu said it was more about
acknowledging values that can shape the
city’s future.
“I’m fortunate to be at an institution
where this is encouraged,” he said, “and
to be a part of a community that
encourages people to try very, very
hard.”
Michele Munz is a health reporter at the
Post-Dispatch. Follow the health news on
twitter at #STLhealth
———
©2015 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at
www.stltoday.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency,
LLC
_____