Filling a gap: Dalhousie University student to pitch new ultrasound tool in Germany

A Halifax university student is breaking barriers in brain cancer treatment.

A PhD student in Dalhousie University’s biomedical engineering program in Halifax received first place at the 2025 Falling Walls Atlantic regional competition.

Annika Benson brought her pitch titled “Breaking the Wall of Brain Cancer Treatment” to the competition and took home first prize.

The pitch competition allows people three minutes to present their research.

“My pitch was about the ultrasound probe that my labs developed,” Benson told CTV News Atlantic.

The device is a miniature, high-resolution probe used for brain surgery that Benson, along with her lab team, developed at the Centre for Clinic Research. A Nova Scotia Health research lab in partnership with Dalhousie University.

“Right now, when surgeons are trying to preform brain surgery, there is a real lack of tools to help them actually see where that tumor is,” Benson explained.

Benson said a lot of ultrasound tools currently available are too large to be used during brain surgery.

“We actually believe it is the world’s smallest ultrasound probe of its kind,” Benson said.

The probe produces high-resolution images to help surgeons differentiate between healthy brain tissue and a tumor.

“That’s really important for treating patients,” she said.

Benson said the device is filling a gap that has existed in the field of neurosurgery for a long time.

She has been invited to participate in the Falling Walls pitch finals in Germany later this year to share her innovation.

“It’s a huge honour to have won and I’m really excited to get to represent this work on a global stage,” Benson said.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Lamb

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