Dr. Gilles Soulez, a researcher in the CHUM’s Imaging and Engineering research theme, received this award for his work, published in Science Robotics.

A professor at Université de Montréal, Dr. Soulez along with his Canadian colleagues, through the study, Human-scale navigation of magnetic microrobots in hepatic arteries, propose an innovative approach to treating liver tumours with guided magnetic microrobots in an MRI machine.

This proof of concept could change the interventional radiology approaches used to treat liver cancers.

The most common of these, hepatocellular carcinoma, is responsible for 700,000 deaths per year worldwide, and is currently most often treated with transarterial chemoembolization.

It’s not science fiction

The idea of injecting microscopic robots into the bloodstream to heal the human body is not new.

Guided by an external magnetic field, miniature biocompatible robots, made of magnetizable iron oxide nanoparticles, can theoretically provide medical treatment in a very targeted manner.

Until now, there has been a technical obstacle: the force of gravity of these microrobots exceeds that of the magnetic force, which limits their guidance when the tumour is located higher than the injection site.

While the magnetic field of the MRI is high, the magnetic gradients used for navigation and to generate MRI images are weaker.

To resolve this problem, Dr. Soulez and his team developed an algorithm to determine in which position the patient should be in the clinical MRI to take advantage of gravity and combine it with the magnetic navigation.

This combined effect makes it easier for the microrobots to travel to the arterial branches which feed the tumour. By varying the direction of the magnetic field, scientists can accurately guide them to sites to be treated and thus preserve the healthy cells.

The official award presentation will take place on April 25, 2025, during the CRCHUM researchers’ retreat.