Undergraduate researchers at Montana State refine camera to improve skin cancer detection

BOZEMAN - Nate Smith is no stranger to sprawling industry conferences. A career jeweler originally from Minneapolis, Smith used to routinely attend the Tuscon Gem and Mineral Show, one of the largest and most prestigious gem shows in the world.

When Smith, 46, left the jewelry industry to finish his undergraduate degree in engineering, he didn't expect to find himself at another expansive conference. Yet he couldn't help but feel some déjà vu at the Photonics West conference in San Fransico this January, where he presented the research that he's worked on for years at Montana State University.

Smith's research has been the highlight of his electrical engineering degree at MSU, which he started in 2022 and plans to complete this spring. Originally, Smith moved to Bozeman to manage a gem gallery - but upon seeing his proximity to MSU and the wealth of jobs in the laser and photonics industry, he decided to finish his degree.

In 2023, Smith joined a team of researchers, led by engineering professor David Dickensheets, to work on novel technology aimed at improving the diagnosis of skin cancers.

Smith's past career experience is what first led him to the research, which hinged on refining a tiny, complicated camera that doctors use to find skin cancer. Dickensheets was teaching his Circuits 2 class when he asked Smith, one of his students, to get involved.

"(David) liked that I was a jeweler - I have very fine motor skills and knew how to work under a microscope," Smith said. "But that was the extent of my experience."

The MSU research team that Smith joined has been working on the project for more than a decade, in collaboration with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Caliber Imaging and Diagnostics, both based in New York. The work has been largely funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The research aims to advance reflectance confocal microscopy, or RCM, which is a non-invasive imaging technique used for diagnosing skin cancer without a biopsy.

One limitation of RCM, Dickensheets said, is that during a screening, the microscope can block the area a clinician is trying to assess when it comes in contact with the skin. The researchers are working to address that challenge by adding a second, smaller camera to the tip of the microscope - measuring only 1 millimeter wide across and 2 millimeters tall - that will enable seeing the skin surface during the exam.

"Nobody has ever done this before, but it works well and solves a very specific problem," Dickensheets said. "The end goal is getting the clinical instrument to be easy enough to use, and reliable enough, that the dermatologist can rely on it to make confident diagnoses."

By integrating RCM with the miniature camera, doctors can locate skin cancers without biopsies faster and more accurately, no longer "searching for a needle in a haystack," Smith said.

"The point of the research is that around 80% of the biopsies that happen in a dermatology clinic are benign and don't need to be done," Smith said. "If we can reduce that by any amount, it will save tons of money and time. So hopefully, this technology that I helped develop is going to have an impact on regular, everyday people."

The miniature camera project has involved five different undergraduate students and two master's students in the past five years. Others, including a former doctoral student, have worked on the laser scanning and focusing technology needed to miniaturize the microscopic camera for use not only in skin cancer diagnoses but also in oral cancer imaging, Dickensheets added.

Now, people are working to bring the technology into clinical labs. Dermatologists with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are currently testing the camera on human volunteers, while Caliber Imaging and Diagnostics is taking the lead on manufacturing and marketing the product. While MSU's grant supporting the project has concluded, Dickensheets said the researchers will support the commercialization work if needed.

"Medical device development is always slow and careful, but I expect they will bring this to market in the next few years," Dickensheets said. He added that the cost of the tiny cameras is "remarkably low," and they will hopefully reduce the costs of unnecessary biopsies. 

Smith presented the team's progress at the Photonics West conference in January. The presentation necessitated Smith writing conference proceedings, a summary of the research so far that has been published online. Fellow students Justin Wigle and Jospeh Aist were also co-authors on the proceedings. Smith's next step is getting a similar paper accepted into a scientific journal.

Dickensheets said that undergraduate research in engineering is a great way for students to see how their classroom skills can be used to solve real problems.

"Students typically learn new tools and techniques, beyond what they see in the academic lab, and they come to appreciate how to approach an engineering challenge when the solution or even the next step isn't obvious," Dickensheets said. "Students with that experience at the time of graduation really have a leg up when looking for jobs or considering graduate school."

Smith knows the impact of his research - on society and on him personally - might be extensive.

"The community of support at MSU is hands down the most delightful group of people I've ever met in my life," Smith said. "The people I've met here at school have reminded me that all the money, all the good grades and fancy research and world-changing technology, are secondary to the relationships you build with people. This community has been so supportive, and I've loved my time here."