Adam de la Zerda: New imaging lights the way for brain surgeons

What if brain surgeons could actually see what they were doing so that they didn’t have to “fight blind” when they are removing a tumor? That’s what biologist and electrical engineer Adam de la Zerda wanted to know after his close friend died of the disease. Using new imaging techniques that illuminate injected gold particles throughout the body, de la Zerda’s lab can identify and thus light the way for a surgeon to remove the tiniest deadly cells. In his talk at TedxStanford, he explains how this new technology has the promise to alter the prognosis for a cancer that is today almost always a death sentence and talks about the key ingredient that will make us succeed in the “war against cancer.”