I-Corps: Infrared light-emitting nanoparticles for biological imaging

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a cancer surveillance technology with a broad range of applications from improved surgery guidance in patients to pre-clinical cancer therapy prognostics. The proposed technology utilizes probes that may be targeted to the cancers and illuminated using short-wave infrared (SWIR) light emitted upon excitation, which allows researchers to see cancer lesions deeper in tissue and with better resolution.

This technology will address a major unmet need in personalized medicine, where patients with difficult to treat cancers have limited time to pursue the best treatment regimen. The solution relies on harvesting, grafting and screening patient cancers using animal models to rapidly identify the most effective, patient-specific treatment. The global small animal imaging market is expected to grow by 6-8% to $3.6 billion by 2024 (“Preclinical Imaging Market Analysis” Grandview Research; 2016), while optical imaging represents ~20% of the market.

The proposed technology has the potential to expand and disrupt some of the current optical imaging technologies within this market.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a cancer surveillance technology, a bundled disease and drug screening platform of infrared light-emitting, cancer-targeted nanoprobes paired with an imaging system for scanning live animals. The nanoprobes have a rare earth nanoparticle core (Er3+, Ho3+, Tm3+) and are rendered biocompatible through encapsulation in an albumin shell.

When excited with near-infrared (NIR) light, they emit short-wave infrared (SWIR) light that travels further through blood and tissue than does light from other optical imaging modalities, thus allowing imaging of tumors and other tissues deeper in the animal. The rare earth-based nanoprobes have been shown to detect smaller deep-seated diseased lesions in the animal and have been used to monitor multi-organ metastases longitudinally.

The proposed nanoprobes are engineered to emit at multiple differentiated narrow bandwidth SWIR wavelengths, resulting in the unique ability to multiplex for detection of multiple diagnostic markers. The proposed technology has been shown to have significantly greater sensitivity for early detection of cancers than the current standard for preclinical imaging (bioluminescence (BLI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)).

In addition, the technology has been used to track the response of different tumor subsets to drugs, positioning it as one of the first methods for precise detection of therapy response.

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.