I-Corps: Improved Skeletal Visualization Process for Developmental Toxicology and a Novel 3-D Histology Technology

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When a patient goes in for a cancer biopsy, the doctor removes a piece of tissue from the patient and sends it to a pathologist. The pathologist takes a few very thin slices of this biopsy, places them on a glass microscope slides, stains them and visualizes them on a microscope. From these thin slices the pathologist makes the diagnosis of the disease. The problem with this approach is that these thin slices do not tell the full story of what is going on with the biopsy and do not give a complete picture of what is going on with the disease. Because of this, cancer is frequently misdiagnosed and patients receive inadequate treatment for their disease. This I-Corps team has invented a patent-pending chemical formula called Visikol that is able to render biological tissues like biopsies transparent so that they can be imaged in their entirety instead of thin slices. Using the Visikol core technology this team has developed numerous bio-imaging platforms which it intends to license to pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs). This team has already used the Visikol core technology to develop bio-imaging platforms for the visualization of skeletal tissues by CROs and for the 3-D histological visualization of tissues by pathologists. There are many technologies that this group has developed using the Visikol technology, but the scope of this project will be these two bio-imaging platforms. While these platforms are currently market-ready, this group will work directly with potential customers to understand how they will fit into their current processes so that they can be easily adopted. The primary goal for this project over a 6-month period of time is to license the use of each one of these technology platforms to at least one company. During the I-Corps program, the group will reach potential customers through having a table at the Society of Toxicology Trade Show and attending the BIO International partnering sessions. Through these conversations the team will setup material transfer agreements to demonstrate the advantages of our platforms in their labs and transition these pilot studies into licenses.