$2M NCI Grant Backs AiM Medical Robotics’ MRI-Guided Brain Cancer Robot

AiM Medical Robotics has been awarded a $2 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to advance use of its robotic platform for MRI-guided ablative treatment of brain cancer.

The award, “Intraoperative MRI-Guided Neurosurgery Robot for Enhancing Ablative Treatment of Brain Cancer,” will fund further development and clinical evaluation of AiM’s MRI-compatible robotic intervention technology. The project aims to improve tumor ablation planning and delivery through real-time MRI thermometry integrated with robot control, allowing more precise treatment while minimizing collateral damage.

The award will support a first-in-human feasibility study in BWH’s Advanced Multimodality Image-Guided Operating (AMIGO) suite from September 2026 through August 2028, with $2.02 million in anticipated federal funding over two years, including $1.01 million in year one.

Led by AiM founder Gregory Fischer, Ph.D., the project involves the National Center for Image-Guided Therapy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and co-investigators Nobuhiko Hata, Ph.D., and G. Rees Cosgrove, MD.

Unlike conventional approaches that may require moving patients between imaging and treatment settings, AiM’s tech enables robotic intervention in the MRI suite, allowing physicians to use real-time imaging to plan, guide, and assess treatment. The NCI-funded program will evaluate the platform for brain cancer ablation, expanding its potential beyond functional neurosurgery to other intracranial procedures.

In July, the company hired startup veteran Andy Aberdale as its new president and chief financial officer (CFO).

Comments from AiM and study leaders

Julie Pilitsis, MD, Ph.D., MBA, co-founder: “Successful treatment of intracranial disease depends upon knowing precisely where you are, reaching the intended target safely and confirming what has been accomplished. MRI provides remarkable anatomical information, but historically the engineering challenge has been bringing sophisticated robotic intervention into that environment. Combining these capabilities has the potential to create an entirely new way of approaching precision neurosurgery.”

Dr. Fischer: “We are incredibly honored to receive this validation and support from the NCI. Receiving this award is significant well beyond the funding; it validates the clinical and business need through a highly rigorous peer review process and it enables us to demonstrate this technology in brain cancer therapy. Our vision has always extended well beyond any single procedure. We are building a platform intended to enable physicians to precisely, reliably, and safely reach targets within the brain and perform interventions while benefiting from the extraordinary imaging capabilities of intraoperative MRI. Brain cancer is an area where accuracy matters enormously, and this NCI-supported program provides an opportunity to demonstrate how our technology might ultimately contribute to more precise, image-guided treatment.”

“For many years our engineering objective has been to overcome one of the fundamental limitations in image-guided intervention: the difficulty of combining highly precise robotics with the MRI environment. This NCI award builds upon prior NIH-supported development led by AiM co-founders Drs. Pilitsis and Fischer, and allows us to apply that work to one of the most challenging problems in neurosurgery. It is an important validation of the technology, the clinical need, and the business case and, provides our team the resources through substantial non-dilutive capital to continue translating it toward clinical use.”

Dr. Hata: “Brain tumors remain a major clinical challenge, and MRI-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) is limited by the accuracy of probe placement, intraoperative visualization, and procedural complexity. The outcomes of this research could significantly improve the precision, safety, and efficiency of minimally invasive thermal ablation of intracranial tumors. The National Center for Image Guided Therapy and its AMIGO operating rooms provide the unique translational environment needed to evaluate these advances directly within real MRI-guided neurosurgical workflows.”