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Resource Briefs
Unique Partnerships Move Spectroscopy From Lab to Clinic
New laser-based instruments and techniques for visualizing biological tissues often show great promise in laboratory settings, but transferring these advances to the clinic can be an arduous process. Michael S. Feld, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory, has found the key to making the transfer possible: engaging physicians in a two-way street of education and collaboration. “A lot of clinicians are enthusiastic at first, but then a weeding out process occurs and only those who understand the research process remain,” explains Feld. “The most successful collaborations have been with clinicians who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work with the staff scientists to determine jointly how to improve an instrument.”
Michael Feld (right) at the MIT Laser Biomedical Research Center routinely collaborates with physicians to develop new imaging instruments. (Photo by Donna Coveney, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Through the NCRR-funded Laser Biomedical Research Center (LBRC), which Feld founded in 1985 to exploit forefront applications of lasers, light, and spectroscopy to biology and medicine, he has enlisted a wide range of physicians—in specialties from pathology to cardiology and gastroenterology—to learn about the technical challenges they face in detecting the early stages of disease. At the same time, clinicians often seek out Feld’s expertise to consider whether LBRC research may solve a clinical problem. “He selects collaborators who are scientists at heart, as well as physicians,” says Maryann Fitzmaurice, associate professor of pathology, Case Western Reserve University, who is working with LBRC to develop a system to diagnose breast cancer.
The payoff is new instruments that improve patient care. One recent example is a diagnostic tool based on trimodal spectroscopy, a technique that combines three different methods to gather information, based on how light interacts with living matter. By coupling the technique with a tiny probe that shines laser light into patients’ tissues through an endoscope, the new tool enables physicians to detect dysplasia, or precancerous cell changes, in the esophagus, mouth, colon, and cervix.
With input from the LBRC advisory committee, Feld and his LBRC colleagues choose which projects to pursue, based on whether a project’s needs are compatible with the center’s resources and how well a project fits the center’s long-term goals. In some cases, ideas are so compelling that they lead to new goals. For example, although initial research at the center focused on coronary artery disease, it expanded its interests in 1989 when both staff and collaborators wanted to develop systems for detecting cancer. “Cancer detection, particularly the diagnosis of precancerous changes invisible to the eye, was seen to be a challenging scientific problem with important potential clinical applications,” says Feld.
Once the LBRC team decides to take on a project, the collaborators begin an intense mutual education into both the fundamental science underpinning the project and the medical needs it will solve. Clinicians have input into every aspect of the project, including how instruments should be designed and used, the number and types of tissues or patients to study, how data are analyzed, and where and how clinical studies are performed. And when an instrument or technique is ready for clinical evaluation, which can take anywhere from several months to several years, Feld and his team piggyback on patient studies run by the clinician. “We’re able to bring our instruments into a cath lab or endoscopy suite and integrate ourselves into the setting without getting in the way,” he says.
Techniques conceived at LBRC have also enjoyed commercial success. An autofluorescence technique Feld’s group developed to image and diagnose colon polyps became the basis for a high-resolution videoendoscope that detects subtle changes in lung tissue associated with the onset of lung cancer. Pentax Corporation, a major manufacturer of flexible endoscopes, began selling the instrument in Europe in 2006. Other potential products, including novel imaging systems and new types of microscopes, are in the pipeline. “Commercialization of our instruments and techniques is essential to getting them into widespread use, a step which is very important to us for improving patient care,” explains Feld.
—Susan M. Reiss
To Gain Access: Outside projects can be initiated by contacting Ramachandra Dasari, Associate Director of the Spectroscopy Laboratory. Once the scope of the project is defined, a Research Project Application must be filled out. There is no charge for using the facilities or equipment.
