Nitish Khurana, PhD, Awarded FY26 Head and Neck Cancers Center Pilot Project Grant
Nitish Khurana, PhD, has been awarded a FY26 Head and Neck Cancers Center Pilot Project grant to support his research project, “Nano Spotlights: Extracellular Vesicles for Robotic Resection of Oropharyngeal Cancers.” The award, funded by the Huntsman Cancer Institute through the Head and Neck Cancers Center, provides $30,000 in pilot funding for the period of February 1, 2026, to January 31, 2027.
The project, conducted in collaboration with Richard Cannon, MD, represents a new direction of research for Dr. Khurana and supports transdisciplinary, collaborative efforts to advance the understanding, prevention, and treatment of head and neck cancers.
Dr. Khurana explained that the project is designed to improve surgical precision during transoral robotic surgery (TORS) for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma by enabling molecularly targeted, real-time visualization of tumor margins. The team is engineering extracellular vesicles encapsulating indocyanine green to address limitations of current white-light visualization and improve intraoperative fluorescence guidance. If successful, this approach could reduce positive margins, support more function-preserving resections, and improve outcomes, with a clear translational path toward future clinical implementation.
“We’re grateful for this support because it strengthens our interdisciplinary collaboration between Molecular Pharmaceutics and Otolaryngology to build a translational imaging platform that can meaningfully improve precision and outcomes in head and neck cancer surgery,” Dr. Khurana said.
The award is intended to promote future publications and competitive grant submissions that will further strengthen research efforts in this area.
Congratulations to Dr. Khurana and his collaborators on this exciting award!
