Veni grant for imaging blood vessels during tumour surgery

Dr Sadaf Soloukey Tbalvandany (Erasmus MC) has been awarded a Veni grant for her research into improving blood vessel imaging during brain tumour surgery. Safely operating on a brain tumour is challenging because important blood vessels often surround the tumour. As a result, some patients experience brain damage after surgery.

Using a brand-new 4D ultrasound technique, researchers can image blood vessels and blood flow during surgery with microscopic precision. In this study, neurosurgeons will apply this technique during tumour surgeries for the first time and investigate how they can distinguish tumour vessels from healthy brain vessels. The team aims not only to make future surgeries safer, but also to gain a better understanding of how blood supply is organised in the brain and in tumours.

Medical Delta UltraHB

The research, called ‘OncoFlow’, builds in part on the scientific program 'Medical Delta Ultra HB: Ultrafast Ultrasound for the Heart and Brain', part of Medical Delta’s 2019–2024 program. Soloukey Tbalvandany has been working on this research for several years. Watch a 2019 feature by NOS op 3 in which she explains her work: Met deze echo wordt een hersenoperatie nog preciezer (in Dutch)

NWO has awarded Veni funding of up to €320,000 to 205 promising researchers from across all scientific disciplines. The laureates will use this funding over the next three years to further develop their own research ideas. Veni grants are awarded annually by NWO.

Read also:

Veni 2025 | NWO
Veni’s voor negen onderzoekers - Amazing Erasmus MC (in Dutch)