Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced the results of Key Special Project entitled “Basic Scientific Research Conditions and Research and Development of Major Scientific Instruments and Equipment” of 2023 National Key Research and Development Plan. The project entitled "Research and Development, Industrialization, Popularization and Application of Key Technologies of Multi-mode Imaging-guided Intracavity Pulsed Electric Field Ablation System (No. 2023YFF0713700)", submitted by Professor Lyu Yi from Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), was approved, with a total funding of 24 million Yuan. The project implementation period is 3 years.

Since 2017, Professor Lyu Yi's team has pioneered in the research and development of key technologies and clinical translation of pulsed electric field ablation through natural orifice. With the support of National Major Scientific Research Instrument Development Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81727802) and Key Special Project entitled "Digital Diagnostic Equipment Research and Development" of National Key Research and Development Plan (No. 2018YFC0115300), a series of achievements have been made in basic research, technological development, clinical application and industrial translation, and a cross-disciplinary research team with in-depth integration of "innovation chain" and "industrial chain" has been established. The team has completed the world's first case of endoscopic pulsed electric field tumor ablation, and received multiple medical device innovation awards. This project is a further extension based upon high-quality completion and acceptance of previous projects.

This project aims to resolve the problems that the existing pulsed electric field ablation equipment fails to realize the visualization of biological effect of pulsed electric field energy, the application scope of energy delivery device is limited, and the depth and breadth of scientific research are insufficient, etc. The team develops a multi-mode imaging-guided intracavity pulsed electric field ablation system, focusing on the main problems in basic theory, key technologies, industrial translation and popularization and application. By in-depth coordination of industry, education, research and application, the engineering level of the prototype can be improved, the localization of core components can be realized, mass production capacity can be formed, and the depth and scope of scientific instrument application can be expanded. Meantime, the transformation of scientific research mode and thinking can be promoted. Targeting key scientific and technical challenges in three major chronic non-communicable diseases including digestive tract tumors, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the team has carried out researches on the mechanism of incidence and development of diseases, explored the diagnosis and treatment technologies, and generated high-level research results.

Led by XJTU, this project consists of five topics. Ren Fenggang, Associate Researcher from XJTU, Li Yongchuan, Senior Engineer from Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Zhang Xiaoning from XJTU, Professor Wang Luowei from Changhai Hospital and Professor Yin Jun from Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital are in charge of these five topics, respectively. Team members aged<40 years account for 56.3%.