The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has awarded Tomowave Laboratories a small business innovation research (SBIR) phase I grant in order to evaluate the health risks caused due to nanotechnology applications in medicine and industry. The innovative system by Tomowave will sensitively and quickly evaluate the health risks that are related with inducing nanoparticles into animals.
According to the CTO and the project’s principal investigator Dr. Alexander Oraevsky stated that the system will utilize adjustable near-infrared laser pulses to determine nanoparticle characteristics all through the body of the animal by changing absorbed optical energy into ultrasound sources. This technology also called optoacoustic tomography is highly effective in detecting gold silver, carbon nanoparticles with considerable biological tissue depths not possible using just optical techniques. Even minute quantities can be identified.
Present techniques available for nanoparticle detection, which include CT scans or X-ray imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) do not detect carbon and metal nanoparticles effectively and cannot be accessed by companies that need to test industrial products and nanotechnology-based drugs.
Dr. Benjamin Adler, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, stated, "We are very excited that the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has selected funding of our Phase I program entitled "Optoacoustic system for monitoring biodistribution of nanoparticles in vivo". According to Dr. Adler, "there is a pressing need for low-cost and high-sensitivity instrumentation capable of monitoring growth and clearance of nanoparticles in the body, to perform health safety assessments and determine efficacy of disease treatments". Current methods to detect nanoparticles, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and x-ray imaging (CT scans) are not sufficiently sensitive for metal and carbon nanoparticles, are very expensive and are not available to many companies which must test nanotechnology-based drugs and industrial products.
TomoWave is recognized globally in the field of optoacoustic imaging development and research. According to Dr. Adler, it is anticipated that these imaging systems will have high demand in nanotechnology-based bioengineering businesses and in academic labs that identify the risk of nano-devices and nano-drugs.
tomowave.com
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