My 7-year vision for this fellowship is to design, build and test hair-thin imaging devices that can better see diseases such as cancer in previously inaccessible areas of the body. Cancers occurring deep in the body are hard to detect due to their inaccessibility via natural orifices: ovarian cancer has a 50% 5-year survival rate while for pancreatic cancer this is just 1%. Early detection of these cancers could allow surgeons to treat or remove them before they spread, dramatically improving survival. However, early cancer is only subtly different to healthy tissue so accurate detection requires very high resolution imaging, much higher than MRI or X-rays. Imaging using light achieves this resolution but requires the camera to be very close to the tissue being examined, which is difficult for internal organs like the pancreas. In this fellowship, I am overcoming this limitation by developing a new generation of devices that take images through optical fibres: hair-thin pieces of glass that fit inside tiny needles and can be harmlessly inserted deep into the body. Progress: During the first 3 years of my fellowship I have built a team of 7 people (3 post-docs, 3 Ph.D. students, 1 intern) and led them to develop two new technologies that enable my overall vision. First, a nanotechnology technique for making tiny (<0.1mm) lenses and attaching them to tips of hair-thin optical fibres. These lenses enable our fibres to perform special types of imaging that improve contrast between healthy and diseased tissue compared to conventional imaging. Second, a new AI technique that corrects for image distortion created by the optical fibres as they bend while in use. This is analogous to 'seeing through frosted glass' by precisely reversing the scattering effect of the frosted glass surface. Together, these two technologies enabled me and my team to build a first-generation prototype and led to 10 journal publications (2 under review), 7 conference presentations and numerous invited talks (Arizona, St. Etienne, ICAMD in South Korea, Bath, Southampton, Cambridge). My reputation in the field has grown, and since 2022 I have sat on 3 committees for major conferences, sat on a group updating NHS Endoscopy guidelines, written an invited piece for Science China, China's domestic flagship Science journal, and been in working groups for the new ARIA funding agency and the Photonics21 partnership that defines Horizon Europe work programmes. To support my growing team I have attended two major leadership training courses and receive regular leadership coaching. I run regular lab-meetings and skills-focussed away days to mentor my team, and co-developed with my team a 'lab charter'. Plan for renewal: I will address two key challenges towards achieving the overall vision. First is the need to minimise false positives and false negatives to avoid cancer being missed or prevent unnecessary life-changing treatments. To do this, I will probe multiple biological features of tissue simultaneously by multiplexing several types of imaging in one fibre using the multi-layer lens technology we have developed. Second is the need for the instrument to be fast and robust for clinical usage. To address this, I will work with collaborators in Zhejiang to combine their new ultra-fast fibre characterisation technique with the new AI techniques we developed and test on ex vivo pancreas tissue. I will also prepare larger consortium-based bids (EPSRC Network, Horizon) to bring together the national and international community on ultrathin imaging and work with industry partners to accelerate clinical translation (MRC DPFS, KTP, iCASE). I will support my growing team to develop and fund their own research projects via pump-priming, or as Researcher Co-Investigators. Long term, I envisage a versatile endoscopy platform: wherever a needle can reach there will be an opportunity to perform a smart 'optical biopsy', offering unprecedented vision deep in the body.