Colon Cancer Screening Using Elastic Light Scattering Spectroscopy

描述(由申请人提供)： 这一竞争性续签的目标是提供持续的工资支持，以促进以患者为导向的研究的进步和完成，并在内窥镜以患者为导向的研究中继续指导受训人员和初级教员。首席研究员是一位临床活跃的、由NIH资助的内科科学家，也是一项重要研究的合作者，该研究旨在开发一种基于办公室的临床系统，使用两种新开发的基于光的光谱技术来检测大肠肿瘤(结直肠癌)的风险患者。这两种技术是低相干增强背向散射(LEBS)光谱和四维弹性光散射指纹(ELF)。总而言之，这些基于光的成像系统有可能通过在结肠镜检查之前确定哪些患者实际上可能有患结直肠肿瘤的风险，从而显著改善癌症筛查。通过这样做，通过结肠镜检查的患者数量可以大幅减少，因为对于那些没有能力形成癌症或癌症前驱的患者来说，取消了这一程序。通过只针对那些有患病风险的患者进行结肠镜检查，总体医疗费用(直接和间接)的减少将是惊人的。这项提案支持与西北大学的研究人员和同事合作的生物工程研究伙伴关系(BRP)。BRP得到了美国国立卫生研究院的支持(两个R21‘S，三个R01’S和一个U01拨款)。Vadim Backman博士和他的团队已经开发和分析了这些系统，并对一些生物光子学技术进行了初步的临床研究，这些技术有望在结肠肿瘤的风险分层中具有前所未有的准确性。BRP的主要目标是完善和提供这些用于结直肠癌(CRC)筛查的新方法的全面、明确的多中心验证，从而实现人口筛查的巨大飞跃。K24的主要目标是提供PI支持，以便有时间致力于以患者为中心的研究(POR)，并充当临床住院医生、临床研究员和/或初级医务人员的研究导师。首席研究员致力于培训临床研究人员，并将继续对年轻临床医生进行正规的指导和指导，使他们能够成功地从事有意义的独立、以患者为导向的研究。通过这种方式，PI将帮助指导下一代内科科学家。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this competitive renewal is to provide continued salary support to facilitate the advancement and completion of patient-oriented research and the continued mentoring of trainees and junior faculty in endoscopic patient-oriented research. The Principal Investigator is a clinically-active [sic], NIH-funded physician scientist and a collaborator on an important study to develop an office-based clinical system to detect patients at risk for colorectal neoplasia (colorectal cancer) using two newly-developed light-based, spectroscopic techniques. The two techniques are low-coherence enhanced backscattering (LEBS) spectroscopy and four-dimensional elastic light scattering fingerprinting (ELF). Together, these light-based imaging systems have the potential to dramatically improve cancer screening by determining prior to colonoscopy, which patients may actually be at risk for colorectal neoplasia. By doing so, the number of patients screened via colonoscopy could be drastically reduced by eliminating this procedure for patients who are not capable of forming cancer or cancer precursors. The overall reduction in health care costs (both direct and indirect) by targeting colonoscopy for only those patients at risk for the disease would be staggering. This proposal supports a Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) in collaboration with investigators and colleagues at Northwestern University. The BRP is supported by the NIH (two R21's, three R01's and a U01 grants). Dr. Vadim Backman and his group have developed and analyzed the systems and performed preliminary clinical studies on a number of biophotonics techniques that promises to have unprecedented accuracy in risk stratification of colonic neoplasia. The major objective of the BRP is to refine and provide comprehensive, definitive multi-center validation of these novel methodologies for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, thus providing a quantum leap in population screening. The major objective of the K24 is to provide the PI support for time to devote to patient-oriented research (POR) and to act as a research mentor for clinical residents, clinical fellows and/or junior medical faculty. The Principal Investigator is devoted to training clinical researchers and will continue the formalized instruction and mentoring of young clinicians so that they may successfully engage in meaningful independent patient-oriented research. In this way, the PI will help mentor the next generation of physician scientists.