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

该I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发定量自体荧光成像技术，以满足皮肤伤口护理中对诊断信息的需求。目前，从非愈合伤口的皮肤活检中可以获得的诊断信息有限，并且缺乏评估愈合状态的生物标志物和工具。在创伤中心使用的非侵入性成像模式非常少，并且没有能够评估细胞功能和评价创伤是否真实的充分愈合的装置。能够识别活跃皮肤伤口愈合区域的皮肤自体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。所提出的成像器依赖于所有细胞和组织固有的对比源，并且也可以具有其他应用，例如皮肤癌和老化。 这个I-Corps项目是基于先进的成像和分析技术的发展，以评估基于细胞自发荧光的代谢功能障碍。以前的工作主要集中在衰老和伤口愈合应用，并提供了关键的见解，提取相关的生化和结构信息，从自体荧光图像使用多光子显微镜。细胞自发荧光的光谱分离可以允许预测上皮细胞是静止的、增殖的还是沿着皮肤伤口的边缘沿着迁移。一种比多光子显微镜更快、更便宜的自发荧光成像仪已经开发出具有高光谱能力。 目前，慢性伤口诊断和治疗计划评估都是通过视觉检查和在几周内获得的伤口尺寸测量来进行的。该护理标准不涉及使用任何可以实时评估伤口是否主动闭合的诊断技术。所提出的技术可以区分细胞和组织中多种天然荧光分子浓度的变化，这些变化将用于预测和绘制皮肤伤口正在积极愈合或陷入增殖/炎症状态的位置。 已建立的图像处理技术可以与该设备相结合，以自动对皮肤伤口状态进行分类并区分不同的伤口特征。该奖项反映了NSF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 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.