Our history

Dr. Robert Kruger founded OptoSonics, Inc. as a private research and development company in 1994. Dr. Kruger is one of the pioneers of digital x-ray imaging technologies and inventor of thermoacoustic computed tomography. He has 23 domestic and foreign patents and has published 138 scientific papers on these and other topics.

First TCT breast scanner

In 1995, OptoSonics successfully secured funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop a breast scanner based on radio-wave absorption and our proprietary thermoacoustic imaging technology. OptoSonics developed a prototype of the world's first thermoacoustic breast scanner three years later.

OptoSonics initiated clinical trials of its breast scanner in 2000, using additional funding from the NIH and the Indiana Twenty-First Century Initiative. More than 200 patients were imaged with the TCT breast scanner between 2000 and 2002.

First PCT small animal scanner

OptoSonics redirected its proprietary technology in early 2002 to the molecular imaging of small animals using near-infrared radiation in a laboratory setting. In the fall of that same year, the company sold its first prototype PCT scanner for imaging small animals to researchers at Indiana University Medical Center.

OptoSonics continued developing this scanner under a Fast Track SBIR grant from the National Cancer Institute (R44-CA102891). Subsequently, researchers at Indiana University, Purdue University, and OptoSonics evaluated the device in a number of murine models of cancer. Evaluations encompassed quantitative techniques to measure hemoglobin concentration, oxygen saturation, and accumulation of exogenous molecular probes in tissue — all in three dimensions with a spatial resolution < 350 μm.

Second generation PCT small animal scanner

OptoSonics licensed its proprietary TCT and PCT technology to a business partner in 2007. Both companies entered into a joint product development agreement to commercialize a second generation PCT scanner. First sales are anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2009. Contact OptoSonics for more information.