A team of scientists and engineers led by Livia S. Eberlin at The University of Texas at Austin has invented a powerful tool that rapidly and accurately identifies cancerous tissue during surgery, delivering results in about 10 seconds. The MasSpec Pen is an innovative handheld instrument that gives surgeons precise diagnostic information about what tissue to cut or preserve, helping improve treatment and reduce the chances of cancer recurrence. The research is described in the Sept. 6 edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine. Learn more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/scientists-new-device-accurately-identifies-cancer-in-seconds About Point of Discovery Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery . You can also subscribe via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/point-of-discovery-podcast/id1036884430?mt=2 or via our RSS feed: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:150441582/sounds.rss or via Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/point-of-discovery or via Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Igc5ifenl2bn7e5n2klmrwah7qq?t=Point_of_Discovery Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu