Sophomore engineering student develops breakthrough oncology tech

A USC sophomore developed an algorithm that allows oncologists to detect specific tumor areas to target for cancer treatment in about five minutes, a process that used to take up to two hours. This change allows doctors to treat patients quickly after they’ve been diagnosed, relieving their pain more efficiently.

Biomedical engineering major Arjun Karnwal developed this algorithm for spatially fractionated radiation therapy, a technique that targets specific weak spots within tumors as opposed to the entire tumor. This precise attack on those vulnerable spots allows for surrounding tissue, such as the liver, kidney or heart, to remain undamaged during radiation therapy.

Karnwal approached his work with a driven mindset.

“I’m very sort of optimization driven,” Karnwal said. “I like to not accept things for how they are, but see if I can add my own spin to it and improve it —[even by] 1%— if I can help it out, that would mean the world to me.”

Dr. Arthur Olch, a professor of clinical radiation oncology at the Keck School of Medicine, affirmed that Karnwal’s work has made an immediate impact.

“With his algorithm, he’s helped probably close to 50 patients now with relieving pain and relieving other symptoms,” Olch said. “Just imagine how many hours and hours he’s saved designing this algorithm that can do that work and also do the work accurately.”

For his part, Karnwal seemed thrilled to have played any role in helping cancer patients, let alone his notable impact.

“I’m incredibly grateful just to even be given this kind of opportunity,” Karnwal said.

Karnwal’s algorithm is already being used at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and USC’s Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Kenneth Wong, an associate professor of clinical radiation oncology at Keck, said the potential to expand and distribute it in the future is vast.

“Even though we’re at version 1.0, we’re still getting a lot of interest from hospitals locally — for example, Cedars-Sinai — but also hospitals around the country. We got requests from Illinois and New York and other places that want to use the algorithm, even though it’s still a version 1.0,” Wong said.

Karnwal was able to do this work despite having limited experience in radiation oncology.

“Before he came to us, Arjun didn’t know anything about our field. What he knew about was computer coding, right? He knew that, but he didn’t know anything about radiation therapy,” Wong said. “Despite that, he was able to come to our department, talk to us, learn about what we were after and write this code with our periodic analysis and advice on how to improve it.”

Olch said this innovation will save time and, in turn, heal more patients. Developing the algorithm is a feat that Karnwal stressed was only as important as its designed purpose: to help cancer patients.

“What’s super important for me is the ability to provide that peace of mind and the time saved due to the algorithm’s nature,” Karnwal said.