I-Corps: Engineering Polymeric Nanoparticles as Contrast Agents

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project brings several benefits in medical imaging. These include a substantial improvement in diagnostic image quality and contrast, enhanced soft tissue image resolution, an image method free from ionizing radiation, and substantial reduction in patient discomfort. This new medical imaging technology will potentially reduce clinical costs by decreasing the number of hospitalizations, surgeries and physician visits. It is envisioned that the technology will potentially capture a significant part of the imaging contrast agent market and eventually be used to treat not only cancer-related diseases but also other diseases such as cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, neurological, and nephrological disorders.This I-Corps project aims to improve early cancer diagnosis by developing targeted contrast agents for use with a clinical scanner to improve diagnostic image quality. Small tumors cannot typically be detected using current scanning methods and cancers are often not diagnosed during this early stage when the disease can most susceptible to treatment. The engineered contrast agents we have developed are polymer-based nanoparticles whose external and internal chemistry and morphology can be tailored according to the patient's need. The nanoparticles have a hollow core with an inner lining of a semiconducting polymer that emits a strong imaging signal when used with a multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) scanner. This imaging modality, known as photoacoustics, is a non-invasive imaging method that provides high spatial resolution and high penetration depth, resulting in a very high-quality image. The combined MSOT/contrast agent technology enables physicians to get real-time anatomical, physiological and functional information of the patient's affected organ.