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Please Note: The technology listed below is not available to the public at this time. This technology requires further development before it is ready for the marketplace. The VA is currently in the process of identifying potential companies who may be interested to commercially develop the technology. The VA inventors are available to collaborate with interested companies through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). Through cooperative research initiatives such as these, it is our hope and goal that commercial products will be fully developed and made available to benefit veterans and others.
VA TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITY BRIEF
Optical Spectroscopic Method for Neurological Diagnosis and Monitoring
(VA 07-150)
OPPORTUNITY
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking a commercial partner to further develop and commercialize an optical spectroscopic device and methodology for neurological diagnosis and monitoring.
TECHNOLOGY BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION
The invention is a non-invasive optical technology that is widely deployable and an inexpensive aid in the early diagnosis and progression of neurodegenerative disorders, especially Alzheimer's disease. The core technology is based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). "Optical imaging" can be rendered at centimeter depths or more, and is based on the relationships existing among the three primary absorbers in tissue at near-infrared wavelengths: the absorption spectra of water, oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO), and deoxygenated hemoglobin (Hb). These absorbers, coupled with the scattering properties of different tissue types, provide distinct tissue contrasts that can be recorded and, in principle, used diagnostically. Since the late 1990s, an increasing number of researchers have used NIRS-DOT in brain mapping studies but, unlike the present invention, these have been primarily limited to spectra of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin.
This NIRS imaging apparatus uses a varying number of light-emitting components and light-sensing detectors, which are usually affixed to a cap or a headband. Near-infrared light, which passes through skin and bone, penetrates into the brain. The detectors measure the intensity of the light that reflects back. The data collected by the device reflect protein aggregates distinct from healthy neural tissue, and are stored digitally. These data are analyzed based on numerical measures associated with each patient's individual spectra. This protocol renders a spectroscopic diagnosis for each patient, indicating presence, for example, of Alzheimer's amyloid plaques and fibrillary tangles.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
This biomedical imaging method illuminates the head with light and measures what is reflected. This has multiple advantages in the molecular neuroimaging market compared to other modalities. First, it is non-invasive. Wavelengths of light in the near-infrared region are absorbed only weakly by tissue and can penetrate the adult head harmlessly, versus neuroimaging methods that require injection of contrast agents and/or radioactive ligands. Second, it is inexpensive. It is a portable device that does not require a dedicated facility with an expensive maintenance contract as with the site-specific neuroimaging methods of MRI, CT and PET. Third, it uses a broad spectrum of wavelengths for brain tissue analysis, versus its optical imaging competitors who indirectly assay brain integrity by assessing blood flow with limited wavelengths of light.
IP STATUS:
In process of filing a provisional patent application.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ken Levin, Ph.D.
Technology Transfer Specialist
Technology Transfer Program
Department of Veterans Affairs
Office of Research & Development (12TT)
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20420
Phone: 202-461-1713
Fax: 202-254-0473
E-mail: Ken.levin@va.gov