Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE)

Michael Topf, MD, wears a model of a new head-mounted augmented reality system that can guide surgeons during operations to excise head and neck cancer.
August 26, 2025

Grant supports development of head-mounted augmented reality system to guide tumor resection 

The technology will allow surgeons to rely less on a fallible mental construction of the resection plane, thereby reducing the risk of human error affecting the procedure. 

By Evan Dorian
January 11, 2024

New NIH grant funds novel brain network approach to improve epilepsy surgery

Investigators received a $3.2 million grant to develop novel brain network-based measures to guide surgical decisions and improve outcomes in the field of epilepsy surgery. The project builds upon work recently published by VUMC investigators in the journal Brain.

By Holly Fletcher
The research team includes, left to right, Bruno Scaglioni, PhD; Keith Obstein MD, MPH; James Martin, PhD; Claire Landewee, BS; Simone Calò, PhD; and Pietro Valdastri, PhD. (hoto by Susan Urmy)
October 17, 2023

VISE-affiliated researchers conduct phase 1 trial of novel magnetic endoscope for colonoscopies

A Vanderbilt research team is conducting the first phase 1 clinical trial of a magnetic, flexible endoscope that has the potential to provide a safer alternative to standard colonoscopy, particularly for individuals with inflammatory bowel disease.

By Jill Clendening
A Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering team working to create a navigational system to decrease stone fragments left behind after surgery includes Nicholas Kavoussi, MD, left, Ipek Oguz, PhD, and Daiwei Lu. (photo by Susan Urmy)
August 8, 2023

VISE team works to develop 3D navigation system to better treat kidney stones

A multidisciplinary team at Vanderbilt is working to create a real-time navigational system to decrease residual stone fragments left behind after kidney stone surgery. 

By Jill Clendening
Benoit Dawant, PhD, left, Erik Tkaczyk, MD, PhD, and colleagues have developed a new way to measure human monkeypox severity.
September 22, 2022

Vanderbilt study uses AI to speed mpox drug trials

A machine learning algorithm developed by researchers at Vanderbilt performs as well as humans at identifying skin lesions in clinical photographs of people with monkeypox.

By Paul Govern
May 27, 2020

Collaborative project from VU and VUMC improves intubation box safety for COVID-19 caregivers

As hospital and health care staff across the country continue learning more about the transmission and spread of COVID-19, caregivers for coronavirus patients continue adapting to the changing needs and best practices for personal protective equipment (PPE).

By Spencer Turney
September 5, 2019

Team explores epilepsy-related brain disturbances

A team led by a neurosurgeon-scientist and an engineering professor who specializes in techniques for analyzing functional neuroimaging data has received a $3 million grant to study disturbances in brain networks related to attention lapses and cognitive deficits in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.
By Pam Coyle
April 11, 2019

VISE team seeks to develop new robot to ease prostatectomies

The Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) team of Robert Webster III, PhD, and Duke Herrell, MD, have received a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new surgical robot for endoscopic transurethral prostatectomy.
By Michelle Bukowski
December 19, 2018

Vanderbilt surgery, engineering collaborators create new ‘home’

The Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) celebrated the opening of dedicated space in Medical Center North Dec. 12 with a technology showcase of more than two dozen collaborations advancing health care techniques from the lab to patient.
By Ann Marie Deer Owens and Jill Clendening
March 22, 2018

Novel research explores way to restore silenced voices

A 2011 cicada swarm is leading to transinstitutional research at the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to develop a surgical planning tool to help restore speech for people with vocal fold paralysis.
By Matt Batcheldor and Liz Entman
October 12, 2017

Team developing imaging upgrade for robotic surgery

Removing part of a kidney with minimally invasive robotic surgery rather than an entire kidney when operating for smaller tumors is often best for patients from a recovery and health standpoint, but many surgeons hesitate to do so because of the complexity of the robotic partial nephrectomy procedure.
By Jill Clendening
February 9, 2017

New grants bolster Trauma program’s research initiatives

Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Division of Trauma, Emergency General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care was recently awarded two new research grants.
By VUMC News and Communications
September 10, 2015

Surgery and engineering initiative becomes institute

VISE is keeping its acronym but changing its name. The Vanderbilt Initiative in Surgery and Engineering will become the Vanderbilt Institute in Surgery and Engineering.
By VUMC News and Communications
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