The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, known best for nuclear weapons research, has developed a surface sampling probe that may replace professional pathologists in identifying cancerous tissue during surgeries. Currently, samples are taken to the pathology lab to confirm that all of the cancer has been removed.
This takes considerable time, extended by the preparation process necessary before the pathologist looks into the microscope. The new probe hopes to do the same, but right inside the operating room and without requiring a pathologist to operate.
