PFI-TT: Increasing commercial potential of deep skin imaging using OCT.

这一PFI项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是改进皮肤成像，以足够深入地看到组织表面以下，从而对皮肤科医生和外科医生有用。这项名为光学相干断层扫描或OCT的技术可以以接近细胞分辨率的非侵入性图像对组织进行成像，并识别由于疾病或损伤而导致的结构变化。虽然OCT显示出强大的视网膜成像能力，但该方法提供的深度穿透有限，阻碍了在其他组织中的成功。我们已经为OCT开发了一种新的方法，在美国国家科学基金会的支持下(CBET 1133222)，显著扩展了其深度渗透。不断增加的深度渗透将打开新的应用，特别是在诊断皮肤病方面。我们希望这个项目能够证明我们的合作伙伴公司的商业化是合理的，因为该技术可以以一种与皮肤科医生和外科医生的医疗实践相兼容的格式对皮肤进行成像。这项提议寻求建立和测试一个具有足够扫描范围的原型系统，以用于医学。这项技术将通过动物模型的皮肤成像进行测试和验证。通过更多地获得更好的生物医学成像技术，我们将促进美国公众的健康和福利。拟议的项目将推动一种新的成像模式，双轴OCT，朝着皮肤成像的实际实施迈进。该提案建立在美国国家科学基金会支持的工作基础上，该工作在10月份演示了扩展深度成像的原理。目前，由于穿透深度有限且无法评估足够大的组织面积，OCT并未广泛用于皮肤成像。拟议的工作将解决这一缺陷。首先，我们将建立一个新的扫描系统，该系统将验证该方法可以用于检查更大的组织区域，同时还可以深入到动物皮肤等生物组织。其次，我们将实施一种新的动态聚焦方法，通过使医生能够在组织表面以下几毫米处对组织成像，而无需重新定位设备，从而实现商业上的成功。最后，这项提案将通过对活体动物组织进行成像来证明该方法的医学适用性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 PFI project is to improve skin imaging to see deep enough below the tissue surface that they are useful for dermatologists and surgeons. The technique, called optical coherence tomography or OCT, can non-invasively image tissues with near cellular resolution and identify changes in structure due to disease or injury. While OCT has shown great capabilities for imaging the retina, the approach offers limited depth penetration which has prevented success in other tissues. We have developed a new approach for OCT, under NSF support (CBET 1133222), that significantly extends its depth penetration. Increasing depth penetration will open up new applications, particular for diagnosing skin disease. We expect this project to help justify commercialization by our partner company by showing that the technology can image skin in a format that is compatible with medical practice of dermatologists and surgeons. This proposal seeks to build and test a prototype system with enough scanning range to be useful to medicine. The technology will be tested and validated with skin imaging in animal models. By increasing access to better biomedical imaging technology, we will advance the health and welfare of the American public.The proposed project will advance a new imaging modality, dual axis OCT, towards a practical implementation for imaging skin. The proposal builds on NSF supported work that demonstrated the principle of extended depth imaging in OCT. Currently, OCT is not widely used for skin imaging due to limited penetration depth and an inability to evaluate large enough tissue areas. The proposed work will address this shortcoming. First, we will build a new scanning system that will validate that the approach can be used to examine larger tissue areas yet penetrate deeply into biological tissues such as animal skin. Second, we will implement a new dynamic focusing approach that will enable commercial success by making allowing physicians to image tissues at several millimeters below the tissue surface without repositioning the device. Finally, this proposal will demonstrate the medical applicability of the approach by imaging in vivo animal tissues.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.