HKUST Develops World's First AI Slide-Free Pathology Imaging System Generates Histological Images in Just Three Minutes to Support Rapid Intraoperative Diagnosis A research team from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), together with an HKUST-incubated medtech startup, PhoMedics Limited, has developed Glanzir®, the world's first artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled, slide-free pathology imaging system. The system enables direct imaging of fresh tissue without the need for conventional procedures such as freezing, sectioning, and staining, producing histological images in approximately three minutes in an operating room setting for intraoperative assessment. Compared with using formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, which is widely regarded as the gold standard in pathology, Glanzir® has demonstrated approximately 85% or higher diagnostic concordance. Upon completion of large-scale clinical trials, the team expects this concordance to improve further to around 95%. The technology has the potential to shorten intraoperative diagnostic time while preserving intact tissue for downstream analyses. The team plans to collaborate with public and private hospitals to advance clinical adoption, with the goal of improving overall diagnostic workflow efficiency. With an aging population and rising cancer rates, demand for pathology services continues to grow. Histopathology remains fundamental to cancer diagnosis. In current clinical practice, two primary techniques are used for tissue assessment: FFPE and frozen section analysis. While FFPE is considered the gold standard due to its high accuracy, it typically requires several days to a week to complete. Frozen section analysis, by contrast, can provide preliminary results within 30 to 45 minutes during surgery, but its diagnostic accuracy is suboptimal compared to FFPE, occasionally necessitating repeat surgery for patients. To address these constraints, a research team led by Prof. Terence WONG Tsz-Wai, Associate Head and Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at HKUST, together with his medtech startup PhoMedics Limited,