SBIR Phase I: Robust Bench-Top Oxygen Imager for Tissue Graft Viability Assessment

这个SBIR一期项目将通过提供可靠的体外和体内三维氧气定位方法，解决人工组织核心缺氧的问题。组织工程再生医学领域结合了生命科学、细胞生物学和工程学的原理，创造出可用于替代受损组织和器官的功能性组织和器官。替换受损组织和器官对公众健康的好处与治愈癌症不相上下。几乎人体的每个部位都被考虑过替换。组织工程致力于解决关节炎、I型糖尿病、中风、血管疾病、肝脏和肾脏损伤，以及许多其他医疗问题，通过人工功能组织替代或恢复受损的组织或器官。本项目将通过开发一种氧成像仪器来生成三维原位氧图，解决人工组织移植物中氧运输不良的问题，这是组织衰竭的主要原因之一。该仪器将使科学家能够评估移植物生产期间和植入后的氧气环境，并开发更好的人工组织。氧气成像仪采用先进的射频和磁铁技术，将有助于在中西部地区创造高科技就业机会。氧成像仪将基于创新的无创电子顺磁共振氧成像（EPROI）技术。EPROI使用一种可注射的水溶性无毒造影剂，三硝基，具有氧依赖的松弛速率。EPROI在1-10分钟内提供高精度（~ 1 torr）的绝对分氧压（pO2）图。氧气成像仪将配备25 mT磁铁和~720 MHz电子设备，适用于体外和小动物体内氧气成像。该仪器将具有用户友好的软件，用于图像采集，图像配准，数据处理和分析。本项目将开发顶部装载样品的磁体以及温度和气体控制的生物反应器样品室，用于人工组织的体外氧气测绘。成像仪的稳健性和性能将通过获取细胞种子生物材料的氧图来测试。预计氧成像仪将成为学术机构和生物技术公司组织工程实验室的重要工具，并将对再生医学疗法的成功开发产生重大影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This SBIR Phase I project will address a problem of poor oxygen delivery to the core of artificial tissues by providing reliable means of three-dimensional oxygen mapping in vitro and in vivo. The field of tissue engineering regenerative medicine combines the principles of the life sciences, cell biology, and engineering to create functional tissues and organs that can be used for replacing damaged tissues and organs. The public health benefit of replacing damaged tissues and organs is at par with curing cancer. Almost every part of the human body has been considered for replacement. Tissue engineering strives to solve arthritis, Type I diabetes, stroke, vascular diseases, liver and kidney damages, and many other medical problems by replacing or restoring damaged tissues or organs with artificial functional tissues. This project will address the problem of poor oxygen transport in artificial tissue grafts, which is one of the major causes of tissue failure, by developing an oxygen imaging instrument to generate three-dimensional in situ oxygen maps. This instrument will allow scientists to assess oxygen environment over the time of graft production and upon implantation and develop better artificial tissues. The oxygen imager uses cutting-edge radiofrequency and magnet technology and will help create high-tech jobs in the Midwest. The oxygen imager will be based on the innovative noninvasive electron paramagnetic resonance oxygen imaging (EPROI) technology. EPROI uses an injectable water-soluble, non-toxic contrast agent, trityl that has oxygen-dependent relaxation rates. EPROI provides absolute partial oxygen pressure (pO2) maps with high accuracy (~ 1 torr) within 1-10 minutes. The oxygen imager will be equipped with a 25 mT magnet and ~720 MHz electronics suitable for in vitro and small animal in vivo oxygen imaging. The instrument will have user-friendly software for image acquisition, image registration, data processing and analysis. This project will develop the magnet with the top loading of samples along with temperature and gas controlled bioreactor sample chamber for in vitro oxygen mapping of artificial tissues. The robustness and performance of the imager will be tested by acquiring oxygen maps of cell-seeded biomaterials. It is expected that the oxygen imager will become an essential tool in tissue engineering labs of academic institutions and biotech companies and will have a major impact on the successful development of regenerative medicine therapies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.