Making Nerves Glow: One Surgeon's Mission to Prevent Surgical Injuries
During a routine facial surgery at UCSD, Quyen Nguyen had an idea that would eventually reshape how surgeons operate. What if a patient's nerves could be made to light up? What if the tissue that surgeons desperately need to preserve simply announced itself?
Nguyen didn't just daydream about this possibility—she pursued it. Today, she's a professor in UCSD's Department of Surgery and the associate director of Training and Education at the Moores Cancer Center, with a molecular agent that makes nerves glow now entering clinical trials.
The Scientific Foundation
The project traces back to her doctoral work with Jeff Lichtman at Washington University, where she engineered an imaging system to capture nerve regeneration in mice. The mice expressed fluorescent genes that made their neurons glow green under the microscope.
She recalled that seeing those nerves glowing under the microscope never got old — a fascination that would eventually drive an entire career.
A Partnership That Changed Surgery
In 2001, she partnered with Nobel Laureate Roger Tsien at UCSD to develop what they called "color-coded surgery". Together they created two injectable molecules:
- One that marks tumors — now in Phase II clinical trials
- One that illuminates nerves — beginning clinical trials soon
Nguyen's advantage was that she wasn't just the inventor—she was the end-user. That proximity to the operating room sharpened her vision of exactly what surgeons needed.
Her 2011 TEDMED talk on "color-coded surgery" has been viewed more than one million times.
The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering has funded her research for more than a decade. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. She founded Alume Biosciences to translate her lab's nerve-visualizing agents into hospitals.
2014
Nominated for and received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2014)
Ongoing
Founded Alume Biosciences to commercialize nerve-visualization technology
2011
Delivered TEDMED talk on "color-coded surgery" — over one million views
2001
Began partnership with Nobel Laureate Roger Tsien at UCSD
Earlier
Completed doctoral work on fluorescent nerve imaging with Jeff Lichtman at Washington University
On Gender and Ambition in Science
Nguyen says she's never felt held back by being a woman in science and medicine, though she believes ongoing conversations about gender equality starting at young ages build a safer world for ambition.
During her medical training, she was often one of few women surrounded by male instructors. She noticed that informal relationships formed during moments like changing into scrubs gave some students access to instructors that she didn't have. Her response was to stop fixating on what she was missing and keep her focus on what she could control.
At the end of the day, it is vital to let your passions drive you, and that makes it easier when things get difficult.
She offers this advice to young girls drawn to science: don't become discouraged by comparing yourself to others. Remember what drew you in and why it matters.
Based on: Making Nerves Glow; Quyen Nguyen; UCSD Health Sciences / TEDMED, 2011, 2014.