Optical Cells with Biological Applications
Background:
NICHD is seeking statements of
capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative
research and/or partnership agreements to develop, evaluate, or
commercialize optical cells with tissue pathology diagnostic
applications. Apart from pathology diagnostics, potential
applications of the cell include quality control, detection of
impurities in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing,
characterization of materials, and forensics.
Technology:
Infrared micro-spectroscopy and
related techniques can resolve distribution of multiple chemical
components in a specimen in space and time. Applications of these
techniques are usually limited by stringent requirements on sample
handling and hydration because water and most organic materials
strongly absorb infrared light, limiting the light path through a
specimen to a few microns. Such a short path is difficult to
stabilize for reproducible measurements in soft, solvated samples.
To improve the reproducibility, specimens are often dehydrated.
Dehydration alters conformation and function of many molecules,
smears the spectra, and reduces the number of resolved components.
The invented cell allows sample maintenance in a controlled
solution and the ability to increase spectral reproducibility at
the same time. These features open new dimensions for industrial,
forensic, chemical and biological applications.
Further R&D
Needed:
Development of specific diagnostics
applications and adapting cell design for robust diagnostics.
R&D Status:
- A cell prototype is ready for commercial manufacturing
- Quantitative assay of cartilage sections for spatial
distribution of different glycosaminoglycans, collagen, collagen
orientation, and non-collagenous proteins
- These components exhibit abnormal distributions in various
connective tissues with vascular diseases, cancers and other
pathologies
IP Status:
- U.S. Patent 7,355,697 issued 08 April 2008
- International Patent Application No. PCT/US2005/030218 filed 25
Aug 2005, which published as WO 2006/026342 on 09 Mar 2006
- European Patent Application 05786373.9 filed 26 Aug 2005
- U.S. Patent Application No. 11/826,806 filed 18 Jul 2007
Value Proposition:
- Label-free, real-time imaging of (bio)chemical and physical
processes in solutions with 3-10mm spatial resolution
- Ability to deliver reagents and conduct chemical reactions
during spectral recording
- Two orders of magnitude improvement in reproducibility of
infrared spectra of samples submerged in changeable solutions,
solvents or gases
- Increased number of resolved components
- Quantitative evaluation of intracellular and extracellular
chemical composition in tissue sections and cell cultures
Contact
Information:
Joseph M. Conrad, J.D., Ph.D.
NCI Technology Transfer Center
Phone: 301-435-3107
E-mail: jmconrad@mail.nih.gov
Reference: #700 JC
Posted 07/16/2008
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