I-Corps: Skin autofluorescence imager for rapidly assessing skin wound healing

I-Corps：皮肤自发荧光成像仪，用于快速评估皮肤伤口愈合情况

• 批准号: 2344821
• 负责人: Kyle Quinn
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Arkansas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-12-01 至 2024-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2344821&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Skin; autofluorescence; imager; rapidly

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a quantitative autofluorescence imaging technology to address the need for diagnostic information in skin wound care. Currently, limited diagnostic information can be obtained from skin biopsies of non-healing wounds, and there is a lack of biomarkers and tools to assess healing status. Very few non-invasive imaging modalities are used in wound centers, and there is no device capable of assessing cellular function and evaluating whether wounds are adequately healing in real time. A skin autofluorescence imager capable of identifying regions of active skin wound healing may assist clinicians with their treatment plans, which could reduce the rates of mortality and amputation for the millions of Americans suffering from chronic wounds. The proposed imager relies on contrast sources that are intrinsic to all cells and tissues and may have other applications as well, such as skin cancer and aging. This I-Corps project is based on the development of advanced imaging and analysis techniques to assess metabolic dysfunction based on cellular autofluorescence. Prior work has primarily focused on aging and wound healing applications and provided key insights for extracting relevant biochemical and structural information from autofluorescence images using multiphoton microscopy. Spectral isolation of cellular autofluorescence can allow for predictions of whether epithelial cells are quiescent, proliferative, or migrating along the edge of a skin wound. An autofluorescence imager that is faster and far less expensive than multiphoton microscopy has been developed with hyperspectral capabilities. Currently, both chronic wounds diagnosis and treatment plan evaluation are performed through visual inspection and wound size measurements acquired over a period of several weeks. This standard of care does not involve the use of any diagnostic technologies that can assess whether the wound is actively closing in real-time. The proposed technology may distinguish changes in the concentrations of multiple naturally fluorescence molecules in cells and tissues that will be used to predict and map locations where skin wounds are actively healing or stuck in a proliferative/inflammatory state. Established image processing techniques can be combined with the device to automatically classify skin wound status and discriminate different wound features. The proposed device will be designed as a point-of-care imaging device for wound centers.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.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发定量自动荧光成像技术，以满足皮肤伤口护理中诊断信息的需求。当前，可以从非污染伤口的皮肤活检中获得有限的诊断信息，并且缺乏评估康复状况的生物标志物和工具。伤口中心很少使用非侵入性成像方式，并且没有能够评估细胞功能并评估伤口是否实时愈合的设备。能够识别活性皮肤伤口愈合区域的皮肤自动荧光成像仪可以帮助临床医生制定治疗计划，这可以降低数百万患有慢性伤口的美国人的死亡率和截肢率。提出的成像仪依赖于所有细胞和组织固有的对比来源，并且可能还具有其他应用，例如皮肤癌和衰老。 该I-Corps项目基于高级成像和分析技术的开发，以评估基于细胞自动荧光的代谢功能障碍。先前的工作主要集中在衰老和伤口愈合应用上，并提供了使用多光子显微镜从自荧光图像中提取相关生化和结构信息的关键见解。细胞自荧光的光谱分离可以预测上皮细胞是静止，增殖还是沿皮肤伤口边缘迁移。具有高光谱功能的自动荧光成像仪比多光子显微镜更快且便宜得多。 当前，慢性伤口诊断和治疗计划评估都是通过视觉检查和几周内获得的伤口大小测量进行的。此护理标准不涉及使用任何可以评估伤口是否正在实时关闭的诊断技术。所提出的技术可能会区分细胞和组织中多种自然荧光分子的浓度的变化，这些变化将用于预测和绘制皮肤伤口正在积极愈合或处于增殖/炎症状态下的位置。 建立的图像处理技术可以与设备结合使用，以自动对皮肤伤口状态进行分类并区分不同的伤口特征。该拟议的设备将被设计为伤口中心的护理成像设备。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。