PFI-TT: Development of Miniature Induction Heaters for Cancer Treatment

这项创新-技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发用于医疗应用的新型微型感应加热设备。更具体地说，该项目的广泛影响在于更小、更集中的磁场应用器的可用性，这些应用器可用于金属植入物（即髋关节置换术植入物、支架等）的患者，否则这些患者将无法接受基于磁性纳米颗粒的癌症治疗。基于磁性纳米颗粒的癌症治疗需要开发新的医疗程序，需要在人体难以触及的地方对导电材料进行原位非接触加热。该项目还将为参与拟议活动的教师、博士后学者和学生提供创新和创业方面的教育和领导力发展。该项目设想了一系列用于医疗应用的微型感应加热设备的设计、开发、表征和测试。这种装置可用于磁流体热疗（MFH）前列腺癌治疗。该技术的价值主张在于为骨盆附近的金属植入物患者提供接受MFH前列腺癌治疗的可能性。这项被提议的研究的智力价值包括了目前尚不存在的磁场发生器的发展，并且由于能够加热人体内难以触及的导电材料，可能允许更局部的MFH前列腺癌治疗。该团队将确定所提议的技术在加热磁性纳米颗粒以体外杀死癌细胞方面的能力，并确定该设备在加热磁性纳米颗粒以消融猪组织方面的能力，并估计在不同操作条件下组织损伤的严重程度和程度。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is the development of novel, miniature, induction-heating devices for medical applications. More specifically, the broader impact of the project lies in the availability of smaller, more focused magnetic field applicators that can be used in patients with metallic implants (i.e., hip replacement implants, stents, etc.) that would otherwise be ineligible to receive magnetic nanoparticle-based cancer therapies. Magnetic nanoparticle-based cancer treatments require the development of new medical procedures requiring in situ, non-contact heating of electrically conductive materials in hard to reach places within the human body. The project will also provide education and leadership development in innovation and entrepreneurship to the faculty, postdoctoral scholar, and students involved in the proposed activities.The proposed project envisions the design, development, characterization, and testing of a series of miniature, induction-heating devices for medical applications. Such devices may be used in magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH) prostate cancer treatment. The value proposition of the technology lies in offering patients with metallic implants near the pelvis the possibility of undergoing MFH prostate cancer therapy. The intellectual merit of the proposed research encompasses the development of magnetic field generators that do not currently exist and that may allow a more localized MFH prostate cancer therapy due to the ability to heat electrically conductive materials in hard-to-reach places within the human body. The team will determine the capabilities of the proposed technology in heating magnetic nanoparticles to kill cancer cells in vitro and determine the devices' capabilities in heating magnetic nanoparticles to ablate porcine tissues and estimate the severity and extent of tissue damage under different operating conditions.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.