STTR Phase I: An ultrasonic device for rapid tomographic rodent tissue and vasculature imaging

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将建立一个最先进的成像工具，用于使用超声进行啮齿动物疾病量化。美国每年花费数亿美元用于临床前药物疗效研究，因为所有候选癌症治疗药物必须在任何临床试验之前在啮齿动物中进行筛选。学术和工业药物研究人员利用非侵入性成像方式来评估其药物的体内纵向效应。体内成像研究使研究人员能够评估肿瘤的存在、功能状态和对治疗的反应，而无需在每个评估时间点处死多只动物。尽管对临床前成像的需求非常广泛，但大多数研究实验室都没有配备进行这些研究所需的成像工具。该项目将实施超声成像，它超越了简单的解剖结构信息，最近已经证明了血管结构和血液灌注评估的出色成像质量，并且与MR和CT相比具有几个优势，用于获取解剖图像的其他模式：低成本，便携性和实时成像能力。该项目建议建立一个高通量，用户友好，台式超声断层啮齿动物成像设备。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是基于这样一个前提，即更便宜和更快的成像研究将导致学术界和工业界更快的药物开发，并最终为消费者提供更便宜的药物。目前，由于成像系统成本高，学术研究机构提供成像核心设施（ICF）与共享空间模型。对于行业研究人员来说，合同研究组织（CRO）履行着同样的职能。ICF和CRO对其服务收取额外费用。用于解剖和血管定量的廉价且用户友好的临床前技术将极大地改变这种模式。此外，它将有助于打开一个最低限度（10%）渗透的临床前成像市场（目前，销售额约为3亿美元）。尽管市场上有许多良好的超声系统，但临床前研究界无法将超声的资产（廉价、便携、真实的时间）用于许多应用，因为没有制造商提供全身系统。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will build a state of the art imaging tool for rodent disease quantification using ultrasound. Hundreds of millions of dollars in the US are spent annually on preclinical drug efficacy studies, as all candidate cancer therapeutics must be screened in rodents prior to any clinical trials. Academic and industry drug researchers make use of noninvasive imaging modalities to assess the in vivo longitudinal effects of their drugs. In vivo imaging studies enable researchers to assess tumor presence, functional status, and response to therapy without the need to sacrifice multiple animals at each assessment time point. Despite the widespread need for preclinical imaging, most research labs are not equipped with the imaging tools necessary to perform these studies. The project will implement ultrasound imaging, which beyond simple anatomical structural information, has recently demonstrated outstanding imaging quality for vascular architecture and blood perfusion assessment, and has several advantages over MR and CT, the other modalities used to acquire anatomical images: low cost, portability, and real-time imaging ability. The project proposes to build a high throughput, user-friendly, benchtop ultrasound-based tomographic rodent imaging device. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is based around the premise that cheaper and faster imaging studies will result in faster drug development in both academia and industry, and ultimately less expensive drugs for the consumer. Currently, due to high imaging system costs, academic research institutions offer imaging core facilities (ICFs) with a shared-space model. For industry researchers, contract research organizations (CROs) perform the same function. ICFs and CROs charge a premium for their services. An inexpensive and user-friendly preclinical technology for anatomical and vasculature quantitation would dramatically shift this paradigm. Moreover, it would help open up a minimally (10%) penetrated preclinical imaging market (currently, under-addressed at approximately $300M in sales). Though there are many good ultrasound systems on the market, the preclinical research community cannot leverage the assets of ultrasound (inexpensive, portable, real time) for many applications because no manufacturer provides a whole-body system..