Our partners
Thermoacoustic Computed Tomography (TCT) is a molecular imaging technique that is emerging as a valuable tool to study disease mechanisms and facilitate drug discovery. Its unique capabilities include the ability to image the 3-D distribution of optically-tagged molecular probes with femtomole (i.e., 10-15 mole) sensitivity and submillimeter spatial detail. If you are interested in exploring a potential collaboration, OptoSonics encourages you to contact us.
Here are some of our current collaborations:
Indiana University School of Medicine
OptoSonics sold its first prototype TCT Small Animal Scanner to Dr. Gary Hutchins, Vice Chairman for Research and Director of the Imaging Sciences Division of the Department of Radiology at Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Hutchins also serves as the Director of the Indiana Institute for Biomedical Imaging Sciences. His research facilities include a micro-PET scanner, an EVS micro-X-Ray CT scanner, two Varian 9.4T MR systems, and a BERTHOLD NightOWL LB981 imaging system, all dedicated to imaging mice and rats.
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Supported in part by HHS grant #R44-CA114839
OptoSonics is collborating with Dr. Timothy DeGrado, Director of the new PET facility at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, to study Thermoacoustic Imaging of Her2 Status of breast cancer in vivo. Dr. DeGrado's group is developing a number of dye-labelled Herceptin probes for targeting the Her2 protein in certain types of breast cancer. These probes are then mapped out in three dimensions using a multi-spectral thermoacoustic imaging device designed by OptoSonics' researchers and installed at Indiana University Medical Center. There, researchers under the direction of Dr. Keith Stantz are validating quantitation methodologies in vivo using correlative results from micro-PET and histopathologic examination.
Purdue University School of Health Sciences
Supported in part by HHS grant #R44-CA102891
OptoSonics is working in collaboration with Dr. Keith Stantz to pursue the following research goals at Purdue University:
- Develop a methodology to co-register and fuse images made from micro-CT, micro-PET, micro-MR and TCT. This capability will allow us to overlay multiple imaging information types. Such multi-modality presentations greatly enhance the utility of individual imaging modalities. For example, overlaying molecular probe distributions imaged with TCT onto micro-CT, which is excellent for identifying bony landmarks, allows better identification of specific anatomic sites for molecular probe uptake.
- Explore the ability to quantify hypoxia (low oxygen saturation) in normal and cancerous tissue using multi-spectral TCT. In this application, TCT images are formed at 4-6 different wavelengths between 680-950 nm without the use of a molecular probe. Since tissue is comprised predominantly of water, lipid, oxy-hemoglobin, and deoxy-hemoglobin — each with its own unique spectral absorption "signature" — we intend to unravel the oxy/deoxy-hemoglobin ratio. This will determine from which tissue oxygen saturation can be inferred using the multispectral images. We will use micro-PET to validate our results in vivo.
Indiana University Research & Technology Corporation
OptoSonics, Inc. operates a facility within the Indiana University's Emerging Technology Center, an incubator facility whose mission is to foster commercialization of intellectual property developed by academicians at Indiana University.
