Organization: Yet2.Com Inc
Organization: Yet2.Com Inc
Organization: University of Missouri St Louis
The Medicinal Chemistry Group at UMSL, which is staffed by chemists with extensive pharmaceutical industry experience, collaborates with and conducts fee-for-service work for industry and academic researchers providing chemistry services. The MCG possesses a full complement of synthesis, purification and analytical tools to ensure high quality results.
>Synthesis of compounds
>Strategy, design, synthesis of new molecules
>Targeted library design and synthesis
>Process development, route optimization
>Custom synthesis
>Lead ...
Mizzou Advantage - One Health/One Medicine
Organization: University of Missouri Columbia
Mizzou is one of only five universities in the nation with law, medicine, veterinary medicine and a nuclear research reactor on one campus. In conjunction with world-class research centers for swine and small rodent genetics, these resources create an ideal environment for translational medicine.
Researchers at MU’s Comparative Orthopaedic Laboratory performed the first surgeries to regenerate damaged tissue in dog knees. The procedure is now ready for human clinical trials.
MU is one of 20 members in the National Cancer Institute’s ...
Organization: University of Central Florida
Dedicated to being the nation's premier 21st century medical school, the UCF College of Medicine is a state-of-the-art complex for medical and biomedical education and research located in the center of Orlando's emerging medical city.
www.med.ucf.edu
Organization: University of Rochester
The Strong Epilepsy Center (SEC) strives to improve a patient's life (including employment, driving and personal well-being) by identifying, in children and adults, their particular type of seizure, so we can develop an individualized medical and/or surgical treatment plan.
There are more than 30 different types of epilepsy and each has different treatment options. Correctly identifying the type of epilepsy is often complex and untangling its interwoven problems requires a team of experts. Each member of our faculty has extensive ...
Center for Future Health (CFH)
Organization: University of Rochester
The Center for Future Health is a multidisciplinary research laboratory where physicians, engineers, and scientists from both academe and industry create advanced medical technology on a personal scale.
Researchers at the Center work together to develop new concepts for consumer-priced, home-based, non-intrusive devices and systems that maintain health and promote wellness worldwide. The Center's industrial partners produce and market these concepts for eldercare, child development, and preventive health monitoring.
The Center's focus ...
Biology, Medicine and Pharmaceutical
Organization: NDSU Research Foundation
Although NDSU does not have a medical school, it has advanced capabilities in the areas of biology, medicine, and pharmaceutical sciences.
The NDSU Biological Sciences Department is dedicated to the process of scientific discovery through original research. Our research, both basic and applied, contributes to state, national, and international issues. Financial and related resource support for research is sought from private and public sources. Results of research activities are made available through publication in refereed journals, ...
Coatings & Polymeric Materials
Organization: NDSU Research Foundation
The Coatings and Polymeric Materials department is seated in the College of Science and Mathematics at North Dakota State University. The department provides the only academic research focused on polymer organic coatings in North America, and is one of only very few such departments in the world. The focus on polymer coatings at NDSU goes back to 1905, when many paints were based on vegetable oils and lead pigments.
Our Research Specialties include:
• Polymer, organic chemistry, responsive/structured polymers, nanomaterial ...
Organization: Intermountain Health Care
With more than 32,000 employees engaged in providing outstanding healthcare services to the Intermountain West region of the US, the organization generates many novel and unique ideas ranging from improvements in medical devices to designing software tools that improve the quality of care while providing cost savings for Intermountain patients. Intermountain Healthcare has captured many of these concepts in patents, patent applications and copyrights making them suitable for licensing; some of the available technologies are listed in the ...
Organization: University of Mississippi
http://www.research.olemiss.edu/sites/default/files/Antinfectives.pdf
Introduction
The Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (RIPS), within the School of Pharmacy, was established in 1964 to discover and disseminate knowledge of natural drug products, develop and commercialize new products, improve public health and stimulate the economy. The major research component of RIPS is the National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR). The NCNPR is the nation's only university-affiliated research center devoted to discovering, ...
Organization: University of Mississippi
Introduction
The Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (RIPS), within the School of Pharmacy, was established in 1964 to discover and disseminate knowledge of natural drug products, develop and commercialize new products, improve public health and stimulate the economy. With the establishment of the Center of Research Excellence in Natural Products Neuroscience (CORE-NPN), investigators at the University of Mississippi are able to synergize with the resources provided through the NCNPR to conduct state-of-the-art research aimed at ...
Physical Sciences and Biomedical Technologies in Space
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
Glenn’s physical and biomedical systems enable sustainable exploration of space by improving safety, extending mission duration, and reducing the deleterious effects of space. Glenn scientists study the effects of the space environment to elucidate fundamental mechanisms, develop predictive frameworks and advanced technologies, and put in place countermeasures to mitigate any adverse effects. The research provides critical knowledge to support crew health, fire safety, thermal management, and other critical systems.
Screening Method for Antiviral Drugs
Organization: University of North Dakota
This screening technology is based on the discovery that protein-uncoating process of these viruses within infected cells is an active, regulated process. The method involves infecting susceptible host cells to a virus with or without a potential antiviral drug. In the absence of an antiviral drug, the virus will be transported into the host cell nucleus and become uncoated. The percentages of the virus appearing as intact virus and uncoated viral chromatin is determined in a certain nuclear fractions of the host cells. An effective inhibitor ...
Device and Method for Providing Cardiac Support and Promoting Myocardial Recovery
Organization: NDSU Research Foundation
Remote Sign Language Interpretation System
Organization: McGill University
The Remote Video Interpretation system allows a physician (or other service provider) and deaf patient to face each other and allows a deaf patient to lie on a stretcher while being examined by a physician. The patient's sign language and physician's speech are interpreted at a regional sign language interpretation centre in real time. A video screen and camera are mounted at each end of the stretcher. One camera relays live video of the patient and the other relays live video and audio of the physician to the remote interpreter. The ...
Cell Permeable Peptide Inhibitors of STAT Transcription Factors as a Treatment for Asthma/Rhinitis
Organization: McGill University
The invention consists of cell permeable peptides with the ability to inhibit allergic rhinitis and asthma. The subject matter of the patent application relates to an isolated chimeric peptide (a protein transduction domain coupled with an inhibitor) with the ability to enter cells and inhibit the STAT-6 transcription factor. The chimeric peptide is composed of a portion that binds to STAT-6 operably linked to a protein transduction moiety and a sequence that facilitates cellular penetration.We have convincing in vitro evidence that the ...
Organization: University of Ottawa
This manual provides general quantitative carrier test (QCT) protocols to assess the germicidal activities of liquid chemicals. The basic intent in designing these tests was to be fair to the manufacturer while giving the user a level of assurance that the product selected can meet its label claims. These protocols represent two tiers of testing, QCT-1 and QCT-2, to examine progressive challenges to a formulation and can be used during product development as well as for pre- or post- market evaluation of product performance. The ...
Independent Feeding System for Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In the United States, half a million people suffer from spinal cord injury, many of whom are quadriplegics. Wheelchairs have improved significantly, giving people who previously could not travel independently the freedom to do so. However, for quadriplegics, being able to eat without assistance is still a big issue. A number of feeding devices exist on the market, one of which uses a spoon that is activated by the user’s chin. But, these devices still require other people to serve the food and are generally not designed for use outside ...
Recombineering Method for Improved Viral Therapies
Organization: University of Miami
HIV/AIDS is a worldwide problem affecting 33 million people, with over 2 million deaths per year. Management of AIDS involves combinations of three or more antiretroviral drugs, but because HIV has the ability to mutate, new drug-resistant strains may be produced, rendering the treatment ineffective. The study of viral proteins has been mostly limited to single clones and unable to detect the contribution of genomic variability to the overall virus phenotype. The present invention involves a method of rapidly obtaining viral recombinants ...
Methods and Kits for Predicting a Vaccine Immune Response
Organization: University of Miami
This technology targets accurate immune biomarkers that help anticipate which individuals will display deficient immune responses. The immunological details provided by such a system can be developed as an assay, which can provide clinically relevant information earlier, enabling more efficient and effective clinical decision-making aimed at optimizing the patient’s response, including altered or enhanced vaccines.
Compositions and Methods for Inducing Dendritic Cell Migration and an Immune Response
Organization: University of Miami
Immature dendritic cells capture and degrade invading pathogens and foreign bodies. In order to activate CD4+ T cells and mount an immune response, these cells must then migrate to the lymphoid tissues and commence maturation, which includes undergoing morphological changes, secretion of costimulartory molecules, and externalization of processed antigen material. However, current methods used to activate and mature dendritic cells are saddled with several defects. These methods are typically cytokine mixes that often fail to induce migration ...
A Novel Method for Improving Sperm Motility in Infertile Men
Organization: University of Miami
Male infertility due to low sperm mobility occurs in up to 15% of the population. If there was a simple way to increase sperm motility it would be an extraordinary help to achieve pregnancy in couples with this problem. The motility of sperm is significantly increased by inactivating or reducing the biological activity of inflammatory cytokines present in the sample.
Adjustable Shunt for the Treatment of Glaucoma
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve, commonly characterised by elevated intraocular pressure, whereby gradual degeneration of the inner retina and optic nerve leads to visual impairment. The vision loss that develops as a result of glaucoma cannot be regained and can lead to blindness if left untreated; therefore, effective treatment of the disease is important to slow the progression of vision loss. Current therapies include topical and oral medications, laser surgery and implantation of drainage devices to remove fluid from the ...
Novel Environmentally Friendly Coatings for Marine and Medical Applications
Organization: NDSU Research Foundation
It is well known that ammonium salts deter settlement of organisms such as bacteria. • This invention relates to coating formulations based on the modification of moisture cure siloxane elastomers with an alkoxysilane functional polymer containing ammonium salt groups. The mechanical properties of these coatings are similar to silicone elastomers, yet the coating contains biocidal moieties to deter settlement of organisms. To inhibit leaching of toxic components into the water, biocide moieties are tethered to the polymer matrix. • ...
Prophylactic, Therapeutic, and Diagnostic Remedy for Treatment of Colibacillosis Infection
Organization: NDSU Research Foundation
Increased Fertility via Novel Use of Lipoic Acid
Organization: NDSU Research Foundation
Lipoic acid is a naturally occurring compound that has been shown to modulate insulin sensitivity when supplemented to the diet. Elevated blood insulin concentrations have been shown to decrease progesterone catabolism in several species by modulating liver enzyme. The NDSU approach shows that the introduction of lipoic acid decreases progesterone (P4) catabolism by the liver, leading to an overall increase in fertility. During the NDSU research, ovariectomized ewes were fed an alfalfa-grass ration at 95% of ad libitum. One group of ewes was ...
Drug Delivery Vehicle for Treatment of Eye Disease: Glaucoma
Organization: NDSU Research Foundation
Human carbonic anhydrase (hCAII) is a metalloenzyme that catalyzes the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate and is associated with glaucoma (a major cause of blindness). Carboxybenzenesulfonamide, an inhibitor of the hCAII enzyme, is attached to nanoceria particles using epichlorohydrin as an intermediate linkage. Along with the CA inhibitor, a fluorophore (carboxyfluorescein) is also attached on the nanoparticles to enable the tracking of the nanoparticles in vitro as well as in vivo. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic ...
Self-Organizing, Adaptive, Wireless Multi-Electrode Cardiac Pacing System
Organization: NDSU Research Foundation
In this innovative pacing system, wireless electrodes placed on the heart tissue communicate with each other and with an externally positioned RF “can” (module). The RF “can” emits RF (radio frequency) energy which can be harvested by the wireless electrodes for power, and can also be used to send commands to the electrodes. Sensors (such as MEMS accelerometers) placed in each wireless electrode sense movement in the heart and communicate information to the network of connected electrodes. The networked electrodes work together to find an ...
Novel Multi-Frequency Vibration Platform
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Whole body vibration is often used to prevent or combat osteoporosis in the elderly. A vibrating platform stimulates tissue to hopefully increase muscle growth and bone mineral density. Different muscle and bone tissues resonate at different frequencies, so there is a need to create a device that can supply correct vibration frequencies to stimulate all target tissues. A researcher at the University of Wisconsin – Stout has developed a vibrating platform that stimulates multiple muscle and bone groups simultaneously by vibrating at twelve ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Endoscopy is a broad term used to describe any medical examination of interior body cavities such as the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Primarily used by physicians to perform diagnostics and assist in surgical procedures, endoscopes can be either rigid or flexible instruments with a small illuminated camera affixed at the distal end and coupled to a video screen or comparable means to display the image. The minimally invasive nature of endoscopes have made them commonplace in medical diagnostics and surgery of the abdomen, brain, ...
Laser Hip Ablation Tool for Revision Surgery
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Orthopedic surgeons face multiple challenges when removing a prosthesis stem from the host femur during artificial hip revision surgery. Challenges include component malposition, incompatibility with a femoral component, split fractures in total hip arthroplasty, femoral stem removal with or without osteotomy, and increasing intraoperative and postoperative fractures. Current method includes drilling a cortical window and extended trochanteric osteotomy thereby weakening bone strength and use of chisels that greatly reduces the volume of ...
Organization: University of Victoria
Organization: University of Victoria
Understanding spinal intervertebral disc mechanics is central to understanding disc injury and the etiology of disc degeneration. Disc pressure distribution can be used as a metric to measure disc and spine injury. Researchers at the University of Victoria and University of British Columbia have developed a novel miniature sensor technology for the measurement of disc pressure in the annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus regions of intervertebral discs. The technology uses Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBG) to measure spinal pressure in lumbar, ...
Injection of a Radioactive Dye for Sentinel Lymph Node Identification
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Sentinel lymph node biopsy is an established alternative to complete lymph node dissection in patients with breast cancer and melanoma. Greater than 90% of new breast cancers will have a sentinel lymph node biopsy (210,000 new breast cancer patients/year x 90% rate of sentinel node procedures = 189,000 uses/year). A researcher at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans has developed a new intraoperative injection approach utilizing a novel, radiolabeled methylene blue dye for sentinel lymph node identification. This patented ...
Generating Highly Porous Nano/Microfibers Useful for Tissue Regeneration
Organization: Oklahoma State University
MicroRNA precursor expression library
Organization: Oklahoma State University
Fowlicidins and Methods of Use
Organization: Oklahoma State University
Non-rotating X-ray System for Three-Dimensional Imaging
Organization: University of New Brunswick, Saint John
The invention is a non rotating photon (X ray) system for three dimensional (3-D) imaging of objects, with the purpose of non-intrusively identifying their material content. The system provides simultaneously three independent physical properties that enable the classification of materials by density and overall composition, in addition to the shape information provided by the 3 D imaging process. The system uses a scanning process that exposes a single surface to a pencil beam of X-rays that rectilinearly scans the object. Radiation ...
An X-Ray System for Determining the Density at an Isolated Point within an Object
Organization: University of New Brunswick, Saint John
The invention is a non-rotating method for non-intrusively determining the density of a point embedded within an object, without obtaining a full image of the entire object. The method consists of passing an X-ray pencil beam through a point within an object and measuring the radiation scattered from the point at two separate directions and at two distinct energy bands at each direction. Four equations are then formulated with four measurements and four unknowns; the integrated density along the chord connecting the source to the scattering ...
Automatic Fusion of New Satellite Images
Organization: University of New Brunswick, Saint John
Most earth observation satellites, such as SPOT, IRS, Landsat 7, IKONOS, and QuickBird provide simultaneously low- resolution multispectral (colour) and high- resolution panchromatic (black and white) images. Algorithms and software tools for effectively fusing these multispectral and panchromatic images to produce fused (also called pan sharpened) colour images are important for many remote sensing applications worldwide. This technology solves two major problems of existing fusion techniques – operator dependency and significant ...
Removable Rodent Intraoral Device
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Researchers at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans have discovered a novel, removable intraoral device for use in rodents that is adapted to be retained in the oral cavity long enough for a biofilm to form and to affect the oral mucosa. Along with being readily removable, this device does not interfere with the daily life of the animal, including eating and drinking habits, as shown by the fact that the device did not affect the rats body mass. The device is small, simple, and inexpensive to make and maintain. In short, the device ...
Efficient High-Throughput Screen for Identifying Novel Anti-Fungal Compounds
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
An LSUHSC researcher has established a high-throughput screen for the identification of novel compounds that target the endolysosome/vacuole. This assay consists of two parts. The first is growing an indicator fungal strain that undergoes a phenotypic change when its vacuole is disrupted. The second is treating the indicator strain with a library of compounds and monitoring this phenotypic change. This assay serves as a screening platform that can be adapted to identify compounds that disrupt the mammalian lysosome.
Organization: Technology Partnership of Nagoya University, Inc.
Realizing that the suppression of hand swelling can inhibit both the development and progression of diseases, researchers at Nagoya University have invented the Hand Incubator. Inside the air bag, the hydrostatic pressure is kept at 40mmHg, lower than venous pressure, by an air pump powered by AA batteries. The therapeutic device reduces hand swelling drastically in four days, for example, in case of extra-venous leakage.
Modified INSM1-Promoter for Neuroendocrine Tumor Therapy and Diagnostics
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Insulinoma-associated 1 (INSM1) is as a transcription factor that functions in many difference aspects of embryonic development, evidenced by the fact that it’s expression is restricted to early fetal development in neuronal and endocrine tissues and is absent in normal adult tissues. However, INSM1 is strongly expressed in neuroendocrine tumors, including small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), medullablastoma, neuroblastoma, medullary thyroid carcinoma, insulinoma, retinoblastoma, pheochromocytoma, and pituitary tumors. The expression of ...
Treating Sudden-Onset Asthma Attacks using PARP Inhibitors
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Researchers at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans have identified a novel method, PARP inhibitors, for treating asthma. Excessive Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) activation contributes to inflammation, as PARP is believe to regulate the expression of several inflammatory factors. Airway inflammation is a key factor underlying asthma. Researchers found that administering a single dose of a PARP inhibitor is effective within minutes after acute allergen exposure. This efficacy is a dramatic improvement over existing asthma ...
Methods and Compositions Containing Fc Fusion Proteins for Enhancing Immune Responses
Organization: Roswell Park Cancer Institute
The present invention provides compositions and methods for inhibiting growth of cells in an individual. The cells that are targeted by the compositions and methods of the invention express an antigen, a mimotope of the antigen, or a CXCR4 chemokine receptor. In one embodiment, the method comprises administering to the individual a composition comprising a polynucleotide encoding an immunoglobulin (Ig) Fc and an antigen expressed by the cells or a mimotope of the antigen. In another embodiment, the method comprises administering to the ...
Methods and Compositions Using Peroxiredoxin 1 (PRX1) as an Adjuvant
Organization: Roswell Park Cancer Institute
The present invention provides compositions and methods for stimulating immune responses. The compositions comprise an antigen and isolated Prx1 protein. The antigen and the Prx1 protein can be provided in a complex, or they may be covalently linked to one another. The Prx1 protein in the complex can be present in a multimer. In one embodiment, the multimer is a decamer. The compositions may further comprise antigen presenting cells that have been exposed to the antigen and/or the Prx1 protein. The antigen can be any antigen against which ...
Methods and Compositions Containing MTOR Inhibitors for Enhancing Immune Response
Organization: Roswell Park Cancer Institute
The present invention provides compositions and methods for enhancing the efficacy of vaccines. In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for enhancing an immune response to an antigen in an individual. The method comprises administering to the individual the antigen and an mTOR inhibitor. The mTOR inhibitor and the antigen may or may not be administered as components of the same composition, and may be administered concurrently or sequentially. It is preferable to administer the mTOR inhibitor after administration of the antigen. ...
Anti-endoglin Antibodies and Knockin Mice Expressing Novel Human/Mouse Chimeric Endoglin
Organization: Roswell Park Cancer Institute
The present invention provides compositions and methods that relate to prophylaxis and therapy of angiogenesis associated disease. The invention includes providing novel knockin mice which express novel human/mouse chimeric endoglin. The mice are useful for evaluation of the in vivo efficacy of anti-human endoglin mAbs which can be used in antiangiogenic therapy of human tumor angiogenesis and human angiogenesis-associated diseases characterized at least in part by excessive vascularization. In various embodiments, the endoglin gene of the ...
Low Dosage Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor Agonist to Suppress Inflammation
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Many tissues express serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, supporting its role in a variety of cellular functions. Notably, these receptors have been found in tissues involved in the immune response; however their role in these tissues is unclear. Evidence suggests that the synthesis of TNF-alpha, a “master” regulator of inflammatory diseases, is inhibited by activation of 5-HT2 receptors, making these receptors attractive targets for TNF-alpha-related inflammation and inflammation-related diseases and conditions. Researchers at LSUHSC in New ...
Lipoxin A4 protection in retinal cells - Dry age-related macular degeneration therapy
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
A researcher at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans has discovered that lipoxin A4 and its analogs are very effective in inhibiting apoptosis of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells induced by oxidative stress. RPE cells are essential for photoreceptor cell survival. The pathophysiology of many retinal degenerations involves oxidative stress leading to apoptosis of RPE cells. In fact, RPE cell damage and apoptosis seem to be the dominant factors in age-related macular degeneration. When RPE cells are damaged or die, photoreceptor ...
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Researchers at LSU Health Sciences Center have discovered that Apolipoprotein A-I-rich High-density Lipoprotein 2 (HDL2) and Apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) inhibited angiogenesis in an in vitro human angiogenesis model, the human placental vein angiogenesis model. Moreover, Apolipoprotein A-I was able to destroy a pre-existing angiogenic response as well as prevent the development of new vessels. Angiogenesis is implicated in many pathological processes, but is most known for its role in tumor growth and metastasis. In particular, primary ...
2,4,6-trimethyl-1,4-dihydro-pyridine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid esters as Neuroprotective Drugs
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Researchers at LSUHSC in New Orleans have developed a series of new derivatives of 2,4,6-trimethyl-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid, their synthesis, and their use as agents effective in protecting brain tissue from injuries related to trauma or disease. By modifying a substituent of the 3-carboxylic acid group, new compounds were produced with higher activity, higher specificity for the intracellular binding site, and longer duration of effect than commercially available compounds. Additionally, these compounds were found to be ...
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
A researcher at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans has identified agents to reduce alcohol drinking behavior in individuals exhibiting alcoholism that avoid the unwanted side-effects and low specificity of FDA-approved treatments. These agents are neutral or negative modulators of the neurosteroid binding sites GABAA receptors and may include androstane, DHEA, DHEA-analogs, or other GABAA ligands. Preliminary tests demonstrate markedly reduced alcohol intake by male rats in a dose-dependent fashion by multiple negative modulators of ...
Medical Simulation Computer System
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Medical Doctors at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans have developed a medical simulation system that includes a means to communicate status or other information between multiple executing simulated scenarios to allow integration of the executing scenarios. The system includes a computer, at least one output display device, at least one input device, an instructor terminal, and can include a mannequin.
Angiogenic agents from plant extracts, gallic acid, and derivatives
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Researchers at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans have discovered natural compounds which can be used as anti-angiogenic therapeutics for various human disorders including cancer, eye disorders, or obesity. Specifically, extracts were isolated from species specific to the Rubus genus of flowering plants, and the pomegranate fruit. These extracts were found to contain gallic acid and other anti-angiogenic components that, although functioning as potent anti-angiogenic agents alone, apparently have synergistic effects. Collectively, ...
Phospho-specific anti-Pax3 antibodies
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Researchers at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans have created a panel of highly-specific rabbit polyclonal antibodies to the three sites of phosphorylation (Ser201, Ser205, and Ser209) that are present on the transcription factor Pax3 and its oncogenic counterpart Pax3-FOXO1. Pax3 is a developmentally regulated transcription factor that is expressed in tissues associated with the central nervous system, craniofacial trunk, trunk neural crest, somites and skeletal muscle. In alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS), Pax3 is fused to the ...
Lysostaphin Therapy of Bacterial Ocular Infection
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
A method has been discovered for using lysostaphin as an effective antibiotic for topical treatment of Staphylococcus corneal infections (keratitis). Lysostaphin applied topically to the cornea by eye drops killed bacteria within the cornea. Treatment by lysostaphin was more potent than any of the other antibiotics that have been previously tested (e.g., tetracyclines, erythromycins, cephalosporins, vancomycin, aminoglycosides, or fluoroquinolones). Moreover, topical application of lysostaphin was effective against the highly ...
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Researchers at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans have identified a novel link between Platelet-Activating Factor (PAF) and bFGF-stimulated angiogenesis, and have identified a novel inhibitor (BN-507030) of this pathway. Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is a membrane-derived second messenger that is rapidly produced in tissues in response to different stimuli, and has been linked to growth-factor-stimulated angiogenesis. bFGF, a member of the FGF family of growth factors, is produced by tumor cells, diffuses to capillary endothelial ...
Predicting Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s Disease
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is the most common form of dementia. More than five million Americans over age 65 have Alzheimer’s disease, and 10 million baby boomers are expected to develop the disease during their lifetimes. Currently there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Treatment, which involves lifestyle and diet changes and may include medication, focuses on slowing progression of the disease. Identification of people at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease would ...
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
UM File # 2174BackgroundCancer is a serious and pervasive medical condition that has garnered much attention in the past 50 years. Lung cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. The overall five-year survival rate for lung cancer is currently approximately 15.6%. While this survival rate increases to 51.4% if the cancer is localized, the survival rate decreases to 2.2% if the cancer has metastasized. While breast, colon, and prostate cancer survival rates have seen improvement, there has been no ...
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
UM File # 2228BackgroundTomographic images of the spatial distribution of attenuation coefficients in the human body are valuable for medical diagnosis. Most hospitals have CT scanners for producing such images. Attenuation images are also useful in a variety of scientific studies, in industry for non-destructive evaluation, and for security purposes like baggage inspection. X-ray CT scanners are also being integrated into SPECT and PET scanners to provide accurate attenuation correction for emission image reconstruction and for precise ...
Gating of Cardiac X-Ray CT Scans from Projections
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
UM File # 2878BackgroundOne of the challenges associated with cardiac computed tomography (CT) imaging is resulting artifacts caused by the movement of the beating heart. To date, cardiac CT scanners utilize electrocardiogram (ECG) signals to gate the acquisition of scan data. With ECG cardiac gating, direct and consistent correlation between the phases of the ECG periodic signal and the physical position and shape of the heart is assumed such that if data is acquired only during a particular phase(s) of the periodic ECG signal, the heart ...
Noise-adapting Edge-preserving Regularization for X-ray Reconstruction
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
UM File # 2907BackgroundImage reconstruction involves recovering an unknown function f(r) from the acquired scan data, where r denotes spatial position in 2D or 3D coordinates. Typically, a discretized version of f(r) is reconstructed. Often f(r) is represented using a finite-series expansion as follows: f .function. ( r ) = j = 1 M .times. x j .times. b j .function. ( r ) , ( 2 ) where b.sub.j(r) denotes spatial basis functions and each x.sub.j denotes an unknown coefficient. Therefore, determining f(r) simplifies to determining the ...
High Frequency Ultrasound Detection
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
UM File # 2925BackgroundIntravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging is a powerful tool for cardiovascular diagnosis and treatment guidance, and if often used as an adjunct to several cardiovascular procedures. IVUS can reduce potential complications for procedures such as stent deployment, and has been investigated as a diagnostic tool for vulnerable plaque identification. Accumulated clinical experience, however, has revealed two major limitations of these devices. First, image resolution is not adequate to detect the early stages of certain ...
Motion Artifact Reduction in Iterative Reconstruction for X-ray Imaging
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
UM File # 3967BackgroundIterative reconstruction methods have shown benefits for improving image quality in a variety of tomographic imaging modalities including X-ray CT. However, most iterative methods are based on models that assume the object is static (motionless) during the scan. Object motion during the scan leads to measured data that is inconsistent with the models and that can cause artifacts in reconstructed images. In the clinical environment, it is common to encounter patient cases with motion that is difficult to suppress or ...
Hybrid Optimization for X-ray Iterative Reconstruction
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
UM File # 3966BackgroundA computed tomography (CT) imaging system typically includes an x-ray source that projects fan- or cone-shaped x-ray beams through an object being imaged, such as a patient, to an array of radiation detectors. To reduce the total scan time required for multiple slices, a "helical" scan, which allow for large volumes of the object to be scanned at a quicker rate using one or more photon sources, are used. This technique generates a single helix from a fan beam helical scan, which, when mapped out by the fan beam, ...
Fractional Moving Blood Volume Estimation with Power Doppler Ultrasound
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
UM File # 1216BackgroundIn the diagnosis of various medical conditions, it is often useful to examine soft tissues and/or blood flow within the body to show structural details of organs and blood vessels in these organs. Multiple studies have demonstrated increased vascularity (blood flow) in many tumors relative to that of normal tissue, and multiple attempts have been made to depict these differences in vascularity using ultrasonic imaging. Technology DescriptionUniversity of Michigan researchers have developed a method for quantitatively ...
Prevalence-based computerized analysis of medical images and information
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
1. A method for determining a probability of a disease state for a patient, comprising: obtaining medical information including at least one of a medical image, information representative of the medical image, and information representative of a clinical examination of the patient; calculating the probability of the disease state based on the obtained medical information; transforming the calculated probability using an input calibration factor based on the disease state; and outputting the transformed probability of the disease state. 2. The ...
CT, PET, MRI, EPRI Image Reconstruction Algorithm for Medical and Security Imaging
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
CT, PET, MRI, EPRI, and other imaging techniques rely on iterative or analytic image reconstruction algorithms to convert raw scan data into a 2D or 3D image. To reduce scanning and computational time, thereby enabling real-time targeted imaging, Prof. Xiaochuan Pan and his laboratory have developed an analytic chord-based BPF algorithm that requires only a minimum dataset to exactly reconstruct a region of interest. The algorithms are compatible with a variety of source trajectory scan geometries and can minimize motion contamination in an ...
Novel Transcutaneous Energy Transfer (TET) Device
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
Undetectable Ultra Wideband Radar System Using Random RF Noise and Multiple Waveforms
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
Novel MEMS Pressure Sensor Fabricated on an Optical Fiber
Organization: Indiana Univ-Purdue University Indianapolis
Motion-Induced Phase Estimation and Correction for 3D Diffusion Tensor Imaging with MRI
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Functional Imaging Method Using FENSI: Flow Enhanced Signal Intensity
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
FENSI differs from other methods in the way that it tags the flowing blood for visualization. It derives signal from blood flowing through a highly localized thin slice at a certain range of velocities within the tissue of interest in the brain. This results in a highly localized representation of flow that is velocity selective and quantified in unties of uL/min/cm2. This could potentially allow scientists to visualize changes in blood flow at the arteriole level--the level of flow control in the brain.
MRI Pulse Sequence for Reading and Executing 3D Arbitrary Gradient Waveforms
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Pre-Surgical 3D Computer Reconstruction of the Velopharyngeal Mechanism
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Using this approach, 3D models can be generated to provide comparisons with the pre-and-post surgical status in infants before and after primary palatoplasty. The digital models will also allow quantitative comparisons with models of normal velopharyngeal anatomy. The complex internal anatomy of the velopharyngeal mechanism and surrounding structures can be visualized and qualitatively and quantitatively compared as it exists in three dimensions.
Integrated MRI for Neuromuscular Coupling and Sensory Processing
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Single Photon Emission Microscope System for Preclinical Imaging Applications
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Polyphosphate as a Hemostatic Agent
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Universal Procoagulant for Performing aPTT ad PT Clotting Tests
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
A Small Peptide Inhibitor of Calcium Current
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Voltage dependent calcium channels contribute to the inward movement of calcium ions into cells. Calcium is an important regulator of a variety of cellular processes. The calcium currents generated by the activity of calcium channels are necessary for the electrical activity and activation of cardiac and smooth muscle and are involved in the generation of electrical activity of nerves and in synaptic transmission. Calcium currents are also important in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation and in the regulation of the release of ...
A New Family of Compounds for HIV Therapy
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
A New Cancer Therapy Using Folate/Anti-T-Cell Antibody Conjugates
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Selective Apoptotic Induction in Cancer Cells
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Numerous in vitro studies have been completed for PAC-1 to demonstrate its mechanism of action, efficacy, and activity across a wide range of cancer types. Human tumor xenografts models have confirmed the correlation between activity of PAC-1 and reduction in tumor volume. In cancer cells, parts of the apoptotic cascade are often mutated, resulting in a cellular system that is incapable of apoptotic death when exposed to the standard chemotherapeutic agents. The small molecule, PAC-1, directly activates procaspase-3 to active caspase-3 ...
Therapeutic Scheme for Human Basigin
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Genes for the Biosynthesis of Plantazolicin, a Molecule Effective in Killing Bacillus Anthracis
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Microcins are antibacterial peptides that differ from popular broad-range antibiotics in a variety of ways. One important difference is that microcins target a narrow spectrum of bacteria. As a result, natural human microbial flora will go undisturbed aiding in decreased side effects. A second important difference is that microcins are less likely to be horizontally transferred due to their narrow target spectrum and complex machinery required for synthesis and export, which is often encoded on multiple genes.
New Drugs for Malaria and Bacterial Infections
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Two-Component Lantibiotic, Lacticin 3147
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Adaptive Acquisition and Reconstruction of Dynamic Magnetic Resonance Images
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Auto-Calibrating Parallel MRI Technique with Distortion-Optimal Image Construction
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
PARADISE: Overcoming the Current Limitations of Cardiac MRI
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Regional, Non-Invasive, Measurement of Vascular Health-Related Parameters in the Human Brain
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Novel MEMS Pressure Sensor Fabricated on an Optical Fiber
Organization: University of Cincinnati
MEMS (microelectromechanical structures) technology involves micro-engineered components capable of carrying out a variety of functions previously limited to larger and more expensive components. This technology is now used for many purposes including a variety of physical, chemical, and biological measurements capable of being carried out with minimal space, energy, and production cost. A new MEMS device has been developed which is capable of both the measurement of pressure and the transmission of such measurement via optical fiber. The ...
Method and Apparatus for Arterial and Venous Cannulation
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
The progressive bevel needle is accomplished by grinding tubular steel using a small-diameter rather than large-diameter wheel. The cannulation device also incorporates a y-adapter so that a guidewire technique can be used if desired. Combining extreme needle sharpness with a short bevel should be especially useful when a needle must be advanced toward a target vessel slowly as often the case during PICC line placement. Peripheral vascular cannulation in animals with tough skin should also be facilitated.
Tissue-Specific Retinal Enhancer
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Diseases of the retina are becoming more prevalent, particularly diseases that are associated with the aging retina. An NIH report from 2004 showed an estimated 1.8 million people in the United States suffer from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and this number is projected to grow to 3 million people in the United States by 2020. It’s important to note that people in all stages of life are susceptible to vision impairment or loss due to disease. Because these diseases tend to be quite debilitating, finding ways to treat them is of ...
Rapid Identification of Bacteria in Clinical Blood Samples
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Rapid identification of bacteria in clinical blood samples is critical for quality patient care. Hospital-acquired infections greatly increase health care costs and if not detected rapidly, can drastically increase patient morbidity and mortality. These dangers make detecting infections imperative to improving healthcare and decreasing cost. Researchers at Marshfield Clinic have developed a rapid diagnostic system to detect and identify various clinically-relevant bacteria in patient blood samples. This invention uses an extended version of ...
Proactive Pain Management System to Improve Patient Care
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Evidence-based literature demonstrates hospitalized patient pain remains frequently undertreated for malignant, postoperative and chronic pain. An October 2008 patient survey published in the New England Journal of Medicine found one-third of hospitalized patients felt their pain was uncontrolled. In the hospital setting, nurses are the primary assessors of patient pain and manage multiple patients at a time, so a reminder system that helps nurses can reduce pain among patients. To date, user-friendly, proactive assessment tools for pain ...
Method And Device For Monitoring Medication Usage
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Clinicians need to have accurate knowledge of inappropriate patient usage of medications and illicit drugs in order to provide quality patient care. However, patients often easily evade detection processes, because the urine screen, the most common and established method of detection, currently indicates the presence or absence of a drug, but does not provide dose-specific testing of improper usage. Therefore, a more effective method is needed to monitor the over or under use of prescribed medications, non-prescribed medications, and illicit ...
A Biomarker for Prostate Cancer Prediction
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Prostate cancer affects 1 in 6 men in the United States, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. In 2010, the foundation estimates 32,000 men will die from this disease. Despite advances made in cancer research, there is no satisfactory genetic risk test for prostate cancer. Though there are predictive tests available, they are primarily based on familial inheritance of genes and do not have strong predictive value for the population at large. Therefore, there is a need for a widely-applicable genetic test that provides a stronger, more ...
Glucose Monitoring for Detection of Ischemic Tissue
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ischemia is a restriction in blood supply to tissue that can be caused by either trauma or disease. The lack of blood flow prevents oxygen from getting to cells and waste from being removed from the cells. The ability to quickly detect when vessel blockage is occurring is necessary to administer treatment effectively. After tissue transfer procedures such as breast reconstruction, blockage of blood vessels may lead directly to tissue ischemia. If detected early, blood vessels can be surgically unblocked and the transferred tissue can be ...
Acetabular Spacer for Treatment of Sepsis
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
About 200,000 primary hip replacement surgeries will be performed in the United States in 2010, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Of these surgeries, roughly one percent (2,000) will become infected. These infected hip prostheses can be treated with a two stage replantation procedure, consisting of removal of the original prosthesis, giving time for the infection to heal, and replacing the permanent prosthesis. During the interim between prostheses, there is a need for a temporary “spacer,” loaded with ...
Therapeutic and Diagnostic Method for Ataxia Telangiectasia
Organization: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans
A researcher at LSUHSC in New Orleans identified novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers for the diagnosis and progression of Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T), along with a system for identifying and testing compounds that may be used for the treatment of A-T. The underlying pathogenic mechanism of A-T is thought to largely be due to defects in DNA repair mechanisms; however, this researcher identified a novel pathway distinct of DNA repair that likely contributes to A-T. This research presents a unique opportunity to advance the diagnostic and ...
Multimode Imaging System with Thermal Ablation Capability
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Thermal ablation, or removal of tissue using heat from electromagnetic energy (radiofrequency, microwave or laser), is a promising technique for the treatment of tumors, as well as cardiac arrhythmias. In all ablation applications, small radiofrequency (RF) probes must be guided to the target area by imaging, most often X-ray fluoroscopy. However, X-ray fluoroscopy offers only 2-D projection imaging, and ablation catheters for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias must be guided through the heart chambers with limited visual aid, risking ...
Rattusin and Methods of its Use
Organization: Oklahoma State University
Orthopedic implant for wrist fracture
Organization: McGill University
Wrist replacement or arthroplasty is currently difficult to achieve because of the complexity and multitude of bones, tendons and ligaments involved in the wrist/hand. State of the art dictates that patients who need this surgery received total wrist replacement. Such surgery is non-anatomic and destructive. It uses medical devices embedded in surrounding bones. Using this actual standard of care, patients do not retrieve functional flexibility and use of their hand. For younger patients the scaphoid bone accounts for 60% of wrist bone ...
Expandable medical device for vertebrectomy or vertebral body replacement
Organization: McGill University
Vertebral body excision or vertebrectomy is frequently required to decompress the spinal cord and/or stabilize the vertebral column in certain cases of trauma, turnout and infection. Vertebral bodies can be removed from either an anterior or posterior approach. Anterior approaches provide the widest access but are associated with considerable co-morbidities with respect to the throacotomy and abdominal wall pain. Posterior approaches are the least morbid but provide considerable access problems. Access from the posterior approach is limited ...
Organization: University of New Brunswick, Saint John
Automated Cognitive Rehabilation System and Method for Treating Brain Injured Patients
Organization: Oklahoma State University
Organization: Oklahoma State University
Space Radiation Detector with Spherical Geometry
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
Energetic Atomic and Ionic Oxygen Textured Optical Surfaces For Blood Glucose Monitoring
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
Method for texturing surfaces of optical fiber sensors used for blood glucose monitoring
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
Identification of Cells with a Compact Microscope Imaging System with Intelligent Controls
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
Organization: Auburn University
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
This invention claims a method for the early prediction of foetal health compromise due to foetal asphyxia with progressive acidemia. Foetal health compromise is predicted by continuously acquiring electroencephalogram (EEG) and foetal heart rate (FHR) signals from the surface of the foetus’ head. The two signals are then analyzed by correlating the patterns of the two signals to determine foetal health during labour. Uterine contractions may restrict maternal uterine and/or foetal umbilical blood flow resulting in compromised ...
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
The current invention concerns a novel apparatus and method for the preparation of frozen tissue specimens for thin sectioning outside of the cryostat. Our single stage freezing and embedding system has found clinical use in the hospital during the treatment of skin cancer using Mohs micrographic surgery and in other histopathological procedures requiring the efficient and timely processing of multiple small tissue fragments, needle biopsies or other excised tissue specimens with irregular and difficult to section surfaces. Our single ...
IMG-010 - X-RAY - Pulse-Injector for Quantitative Angiographic Blood-Flow Measurements
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
This invention describes a novel angioradiographic apparatus to quantitatively determine the velocity and flow rate of blood throughout the cardiac cycle. Quantitative measurements of blood velocity and flow rate are of clinical interest as they are commonly used in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease severity (e.g., stenosis) and for evaluating the success of interventional and surgical procedures (e.g., valve implants). Because of this interest, ultrasound and magnetic resonance techniques have been developed. However, X-ray ...
IMG-009 - RADIOTRACER - 99Tc Cysteine-Rhenium Colloid
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
This invention concerns methods for the preparation and use of a novel radiolabelled colloid that has exhibited promise for commercial development as an imaging agent with broad imaging applications. 99mTc Cysteine-Rhenium Colloid is smaller than existing commercial colloids (10–12 nm), is of high radiochemical purity and stability, is of neutral pH, and requires no filtration. Based on the properties, the unnecessary exposure of technicians to radiation and product loss during preparation is minimized, while superior resolution ...
IMG-008 - ULTRASOUND -System and Method for 4D Ultrasound Imaging
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
This invention concerns a system and method of obtaining four-dimensional (4-D) ultrasound images of moving tissue such as the human heart or lungs, where time is the fourth dimension. 3-D ultrasound imaging has proven useful for generating high fidelity snap shot images of non-dynamic organs such as the breast, prostate, or liver. However, the volume of dynamic or moving organs such as the heart or lungs changes over time. As a result, there was a need in the art to simultaneously acquire and view 3-D images of moving organs over ...
IMG-007 - ULTRASOUND - 3D Ultrasound- Guided Method for Prostate Brachytherapy
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
Prostate brachytherapy is a type of radiation therapy where radiation “seeds” are strategically placed within the prostate gland or as close as possible to the tumor. Clinical data have shown prostate brachytherapy to be as effective as traditional surgery with fewer long-term side effects (e.g., incontinence, impotence). Original methods of prostate brachytherapy involved surgical exposure of the prostate gland followed by the freehand insertion of seeding needles. Aside from problems associated with the invasiveness of ...
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
A breast biopsy procedure involves obtaining a sample of tissue from a section of the breast that has been identified as being abnormal through mammography to determine whether it is cancerous or benign. In the past, the majority of breast biopsies were performed using open surgical techniques in order to obtain sufficient samples of tissue to permit an accurate diagnosis. More recently, less invasive, image-guided, percutaneous methods of obtaining tissue samples have received increased acceptance in the diagnosis of breast cancer. ...
New Powerful Tool for Monitoring of Kinase Activity
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
This technology is focused on the development of a powerful technology for the simultaneous monitoring of protein kinase activities in cell and tissue extracts using a multiplexed electrochemical assay. This simple chip-based approach will profile kinase activity in the presence and absence of kinase inhibitors, directly from the cellular solution. This electrochemical technique readily lends itself to miniaturization, automation, and multiplexing and will lead to production of biosensor and/or micro-array devices.
Training System for Ear Surgery
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
A computer-based simulator has been designed and evaluated at The University of Western Ontario. It allows the trainee to operate on a generic virtual ear. A mechanism for providing force feedback is being developed for increasing accuracy when simulating cutting. The associated software generates a graphical display of a speculum, an ear canal and an eardrum, which are displayed on a mock microscope. The user performs surgery on the graphical models using a real blade tracked in space. The software records quantitative metrics such as the ...
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
This invention concerns identification of the first serum tumour marker for monitoring the initiation and progression of prostate cancer (CaP) in animal models. Current prostate cancer (CaP) research in both basic and pre-clinical trial studies employ genetically engineered (GE) mouse models, since CaP does not occur naturally in rodents. Widespread adoption of these models has thus far been limited by the stochastic and often invisible nature of murine GE-CaPs, the requirement for the treatment of large cohorts of mice for autopsy ...
A Haptically Controlled Active Catheter
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
Our inventors have developed a novel catheter activated by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators and a 3 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) force sensor at the tip of the catheter. Intended applications are Angioplasty and Minimally Invasive Fetal surgery. The force measured by the sensor is fed to a control system which autonomously controls the SMA actuators to minimize the force acting at the tip of the catheter. In addition, the instrumented catheter can be interfaced with a haptic device in a master-slave configuration. Using the haptic device, the ...
Peptides for Prevention of Pathological Calcification
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
Description of the Invention The present invention consists in a number of select phospho-peptides that are derived from the crystal-inhibiting protein osteopontin and that have a distinct set of structural criteria. In vitro proof of principle data demonstrate that such therapeutic peptides bind to specific faces in calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals (the nuclei of kidney stones), and prevent growth perpendicular to those faces. As a result, these proprietary peptides have the potential to be used in the treatment and prevention of ...
Handheld Platform for Audiology and Speech Language Pathology
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
Our inventors developed a flexible, portable, versatile handheld platform that will be useful for a variety of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology applications. Specific components of this handheld platform include: an innovative high quality wireless headset interface with an integrated precision sound level controller for delivering and recording speech and audio stimuli; and software building blocks for audiometric signal generation, hearing aid simulation, and the display of temporal and spectral speech features. Identified ...
Rapid Optimization of Dose Distribution for Radiation Treatment (FIDO)
Organization: WORLDiscoveries - University of Western Ontario
Fast Inverse Dose Optimization (FIDO) is an algorithm and associated software that does not rely on the current “trial and error” search to find the optimal radiation beam plan for a patient, but instead solves a single algebraic procedure directly. As a result, FIDO delivers an optimal treatment plan in seconds rather than the current standard of minutes to hours (e.g. the TomoTherapy Inc. system uses 32 computers to develop a treatment plan and it can still take overnight for complex plans). Thus, FIDO eliminates the need to ...
Heart rate variability as a predictor of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV)
Organization: McGill University
Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is one of the most common complaints in the postoperative period. It causes significant distress to patients after surgery. Despite all the advances in the last decades, the incidence of PONV is still significant, between 20-30%. Many different factors are associated with PONV: past history of PONV, gender, long operations, volatile anesthetics, use of opioids, history of non-smoking and motion sickness. PONV causes a considerable increase in health care cost by prolonging stay in hospital. Many ...
Inhibition of HIV Reverse Transcriptase by Nucleic Acid Mini Hairpins
Organization: McGill University
This invention relates to novel inhibitors of HIV-1 RT RNAse H. The compounds of the present invention are "first in class" and characterized as low molecular weight oligonucleotide hairpins. At concentrations tested, the compounds have no effect on cellular RNAse H and are resistant to degradation by cellular nucleases in vitro. HIV-1 RNAse H is crucialto the virus life cycle and viral replication, rendering it an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. The compounds of this invention form the basis of drug discovery and optimization ...
Computer-Aided Diagnosis Software for Neurological Diseases
Organization: McGill University
McGill researchers have developed a completely automated software tool for the classification and early detection of neurological diseases. The invention consists in software for the analysis of large, non-specific areas from anatomical magnetic resonance images of patients to classify according to disease state. Based on no a priori assumptions, the underlying method escapes the pitfalls of the segmentation paradigm common to other detection approaches. This technique has potential applications in the area of localization of seizure focus ...
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
Hybrid power management system and method
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
Artificial Matrix Hydrogel Culture Surfaces for Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cells
Organization: University of Michigan
Background Human ESCs (hESCs) are pluripotent cells that can be differentiated into all cell types of an organism. Accordingly, their potential has been implicated in regenerative medicine and in cell-based therapies for a variety of diseases including Parkinson’s disease, blood cell disorders, liver and cardiovascular diseases. As many of the current methods of maintaining pluripotent hESCs require use of non-human products whose compositions may not be fully defined, control and maintenance of homogeneous population of undifferentiated ...
Conducting Phase-Sensitive Acoustoelectric Hydrophone
Organization: University of Michigan
Background Conventional methods for mapping cardiac currents fields lack either spatial resolution (e.g., ECG) or are time consuming (e.g, intra-cardiac catheter electrode mapping). Technology Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new method and apparatus that measures an ultrasound transducer’s beam pattern and calibrated focal pressure based on the interaction between pressure and current. This invention improves on existing technology to calibrate an ultrasound transducer and measure/image its 2D and 3D beam pattern. ...
A Brain-Machine Interface for Communication with Ventilated Patients
Organization: University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego)
UC San Diego researchers have designed a mobile steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) based brain-computer interface for communicating with mechanically ventilated patients. SSVEP is the electrical response of the brain to a flickering visual stimulus at a rate higher than 6Hz. With stimulation, an increase in amplitude is seen at the stimulus frequency from EEG recordings. This invention uses a tablet device that serves both as the source of visual evoked potentials, and as the processing instrument by which patient selections will be ...
Improved Images with MRI Acquisition of Multiple Chemical Species
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
UW–Madison researchers have previously developed “IDEAL,” a multi-echo chemical species separation technique that uses iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least squares estimation. IDEAL has been shown to separate water and fat effectively with a number of different acquisition methods. It was developed to address limitations of conventional chemical species separation techniques, known as Dixon methods, that exploit differences in resonance frequencies between chemical species. Dixon methods ...
Glycomacropeptide (GMP)-Based Food for the Treatment of PKU and Other Metabolic Disorders
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a genetic disorder in which an individual lacks the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) that converts the amino acid phenylalanine into tyrosine. If left untreated, the buildup of phenylalanine in the blood can lead to mental retardation and central nervous system disorders. The treatment for PKU is a lifelong reduced protein diet. Because most proteins contain significant amounts of phenylalanine, the specialized diet usually is protein poor and supplemented with other amino acids. This ...
Targeted Microwave Hyperthermia Therapy to Eliminate Hot Spots
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Clinical hyperthermia involves elevating the temperature of targeted tissue for therapeutic means. In oncology, hyperthermia can be used to make cancer cells more susceptible to radiation therapy or chemotherapy, directly treat cancer cells, or trigger heat-activated or released drugs. One method to non-invasively induce hyperthermia is to focus microwave energy at the target site using transmitters external to the body. The determination of the proper phase and amplitude of the microwave power may take into account the electrical properties ...
Universal Signal-to-Noise Ratio Enhancement Using PICCS Image Reconstruction
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is utilized in medical imaging as a quantitative measure of image quality. As SNR decreases, it becomes increasingly more difficult to differentiate between important anatomical features and clinical findings. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a relatively high SNR, but all known SNR enhancement methods sacrifice spatial resolution of the image. In addition, noise texture often is changed by SNR enhancement techniques, resulting in a distorted image. A need is felt for improved SNR enhancement methods that ...
IsoPhantom: A Customizable 3-D Phantom for Improved Radiation Dosimetry
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Radiation therapy methods such as external beam radiation therapy are administered by directing beams of radiation toward a defined target volume in a patient. A radiation therapy plan is used to determine how much radiation to deliver and from what locations while ensuring that healthy tissue surrounding the target tissue does not receive excessive radiation. Modern radiation therapy methods such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volume-modulated arc therapy (VMAT), coupled with image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), allow ...
Algorithm Improves Resolution of Time-Frequency Analysis for Medical Diagnostics, Telecommunications
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Time-frequency analysis involves detecting when oscillations of certain frequencies turn on and off. This kind of analysis is useful in nearly every field of science and engineering. The traditional approach for frequency analysis, the fast Fourier transform (FFT), can be adapted for time-frequency analysis by segmenting data into short time windows. The FFT algorithm is applied to each time window separately, and frequency spectra are then generated, one for every time window. The time resolution of such time-windowed FFT is limited by the ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Hydrocephalus is a disorder in which a subject’s body produces cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at a rate faster than the venous system is able to absorb the fluid. The increase in intracranial pressure (ICP) caused by the excess fluid can lead to a number of uncomfortable and potentially dangerous neurological symptoms and conditions including headache, cerebral edema, seizures, brain herniation and death. Traditional treatment for hydrocephalus uses “shunts” made of flexible tubing inserted into the ventricular system to drain ...
Controlled Radiation Therapy Delivery for Improved Cancer Cure Rate
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Conventional external beam radiation therapy is used for cancer treatment by irradiating a defined target region using beams of ionizing radiation. The purpose of a treatment plan is to accurately identify the target and localize the desired radiation to that target region in the patient. 3-D conformal radiation therapy (3D CRT) is an external beam radiation therapy technique that utilizes computer planning software to produce a 3-D radiation dose map specific to a target tumor. 3D CRT aims to minimize unwanted radiation dose to sensitive ...
Biodegradable, Biocompatible Tannin-Chitosan Composites for Therapeutic Applications
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Chitosan is a soluble biopolymer derived from chitin, which is a structural element in the shell of marine arthropods. Chitosan is used in water processing and agriculture. It also is used in bandages and surgical dressings. However, chitosan materials often have limited stability, biodegradability, tensile strength or biocompatibility. Tannins are astringent plant polyphenols with the ability to bind proteins. Tannins have been linked to variety of health benefits and can be found in certain foods and ...
Ultrasound Machine and Image Segmentation Algorithm to Improve Longitudinal Tissue Analysis
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Conventional ultrasonic imaging maps ultrasonic echo signals into an image where the intensity of the echo is correlated with the brightness of pixels on the image plane. While such images serve to distinguish rough structure within the body, they provide limited insight into the physical properties of the imaged materials. Newly developed ultrasonic imaging machines may measure physical properties of the imaged materials to reveal stiffness properties of the material. Such imaging is known as “elastography.” Image segmentation ...
Deterministic Approach to Generating Optimal Ordering of MRI Measurements
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Generating a set of uniformly-distributed points on the surface of a sphere via a deterministic scheme is important for biomedical imaging and engineering applications, especially MR imaging. A point set generated through the minimization of electrostatic potential based on Coulumb’s law is the current gold standard. However, minimizing the electrostatic potential of a set of one thousand or more points remains computationally challenging and time-consuming. It is well accepted that uniformity of the diffusion gradient schemes plays an ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Cerebral aneurysms develop when the wall of a cerebral artery becomes weakened and the blood vessel balloons. Intracranial aneurysms are estimated to affect three to six percent of the adult population in the United States. Each year 30,000 to 50,000 aneurysms rupture in the United States, killing 50 percent of the individuals who experience these ruptures and leaving another 25 percent with severe neurological injury. Flow diverters such as stents are rapidly gaining popularity for treating cerebral aneurysms. These treatment procedures are ...
Glucose Monitoring for Fast, Reliable and Inexpensive Detection of Compartment Syndrome
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Compartment syndrome is a painful condition that occurs when pressure within a muscle or other compartment builds to dangerous levels. The increased pressure decreases blood flow to the affected area, which prevents nourishment and oxygen from reaching nerve and muscle cells. Compartment syndrome may occur when muscle swelling from an injury cuts off blood flow to a region of the body, usually an extremity. The resulting tissue ischemia (or blood restriction) can lead to muscle death, resulting in a severely compromised limb. Compartment ...
Method to Reconstruct Motion-Compensated Magnetic Resonance Images with Non-Cartesian Trajectories
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is highly sensitive to patient motion. Depending on the k-space acquisition trajectory, which determines at what positions of the spatial frequency domain data points are collected, motion may cause blurring, ghosting or other artifacts that reduce image quality and diagnostic value of the images. Most physiological motion artifacts can be suppressed or corrected by proper gating techniques; however, bulk motion remains a clinical problem, particularly in three-dimensional imaging where prolonged acquisition ...
Adjustable Implant for Treatment of Glottic Insufficiency
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Glottic insufficiency is the medical term used to describe inadequate vocal fold contact during voice production. Glottic insufficiency results in poor voice quality and “breathiness” during phonation, and also may cause problems with breathing and swallowing. In the case of certain disorders that cause glottic insufficiency, treatment is primarily surgical and aims to medialize (i.e., move toward the center) one of the vocal folds by placing it closer to the normally functioning fold. One surgical technique, injection ...
Optimized Intensity Modulated Arc Therapy Treatment Planning System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Optimizing design plans involving systems and methods for radiation therapy has been a widely researched topic. A common goal is to deliver varying doses of radiation during treatment (higher doses to the tumor and lower doses to non-tumor tissues) while also reducing the amount of time the patient spends on the table. One current method for radiation treatment is intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). This method is delivered either with a fixed gantry or a rotatable gantry. A recently developed treatment that provides an ...
Improved Hydrodissection Solution for Tissue Ablation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Tissue ablation is an increasingly popular option for the removal of solid tumors of the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. Ablation techniques, which include radiofrequency (RF) ablation, cryoablation, microwave ablation, laser ablation, ethanol ablation and chemoembolization, use destructive agents such as heat, cold, radiation or chemicals to destroy tumors. Because most ablation techniques do not differentiate between tumorous and healthy tissues, a technique known as hydrodissection has been developed to separate the target ablation zone ...
Improved MRI Scan Time through Rotating Angle Velocity Encoding
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) utilizes the signal induced by excited spins when human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field. The individual magnetic moments of the nuclear spins in the tissue attempt to align with the field, and the field is then terminated. A wide variety of measurement sequences exploit this nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon to produce images of the human vasculature and related physiological effects, including MR angiography (MRA). Phase contrast (PC) is a technique used to achieve the desired ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Current MRI techniques to obtain images of rapidly changing anatomies such as the beating heart or to monitor the flow of fluids such as contrast agents through organs and peripheral vasculature acquire less information than normally is utilized for image reconstruction. As a result, the absent data must be estimated in some way for high-quality image reconstruction. It is difficult to obtain temporal and spatial resolution that is sufficient for diagnosis using accelerated imaging techniques. A need exists for improved methods of data ...
Early Detection of Prostate Cancer and Prostatitis Using Serum Antibody Response
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men. Most methods for diagnosing cancer involve detecting a protein like prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which is made by the tumor and secreted into the bloodstream. However, these methods require a large enough tumor and sensitive detection techniques, and may not detect early stage cancer. Detecting antibody responses to tumors may provide a more sensitive means of diagnosing prostate ...
Method for Error-Compensated Chemical Species Signal Separation with Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Fat quantification using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has important clinical applications including the early diagnosis and quantitative staging of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Compared to biopsy, the current gold standard for quantitative assessment of NAFLD, MRI methods have the advantages of being non-invasive and allowing volumetric coverage of the whole liver. Chemical shift-based fat quantification methods are able to provide measurements of proton density fat fraction, a biomarker for NAFLD. In these methods, several ...
Biomaterials That Modulate Stem Cell Behavior and Osteogenesis
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Musculoskeletal conditions cost an estimated $254 billion each year in the United States, and bone and joint diseases account for half of all chronic conditions in adults over the age of 50. Emerging approaches for bone repair and replacement therapies have focused on delivering growth factors to skeletal defects, as these biomolecules can induce the formation of bone. But a practical delivery method has not yet been developed for clinical orthopedic applications. Proteoglycans are present on the surface and within the extracellular matrix ...
Method for Quantification of R<sub>2</sub>* Relaxivity in Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Mapping of effective transverse relaxation rate (R2*) relaxivity has important applications in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including blood oxygenation level dependent functional imaging, detection and tracking of superparamagnetic iron oxides and assessment of iron content in the brain, heart, pancreas and liver. Measurement of hepatic iron content (HIC) is important for detection and quantification of iron overload. R2* has been shown to be strongly correlated to HIC. Mapping of R2* in MRI can be performed from a set of gradient echo ...
Quantifying Visceral Fat Using MRI
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
An excess of visceral adipose tissue (VAT), or fat stored in the abdomen, is known to be a dominant risk factor in developing metabolic syndrome, the not fully understood clustering of metabolic and cardiovascular problems including obesity, type II diabetes and coronary artery disease. The 47 million Americans afflicted with the syndrome face heightened risk of stroke, heart attack and premature death. Determining both the amount and distribution of VAT is critical to assessing an individual’s risk. Current diagnostic imaging technology, ...
Accelerated Pseudo-Random Data Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Current MRI techniques to obtain images of rapidly changing anatomies such as the beating heart or to monitor the flow of fluids such as contrast agents through organs and peripheral vasculature acquire less information than normally is utilized for image reconstruction. As a result, the absent data must be estimated in some way for high-quality image reconstruction. It is difficult to obtain temporal and spatial resolution that is sufficient for diagnosis using accelerated imaging techniques. A need exists for improved methods of data ...
Correction of Inverse Consistency and Transitivity Errors in Deformable Image Registration
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In radiation therapy, particularly with 4-D planning and adaptive radiotherapy, multiple images almost always are acquired and utilized as part of the therapy. A treatment plan is defined on an image of the patient and used to align and control radiation beams during treatment. The dose received by each region of tissue during each treatment fraction is monitored. The registration of the treatment plan with the patient and the monitoring of radiation dose over time are complicated by changes in the patient and target over time. It is common ...
More Accurate Method for Generating Proton Therapy Treatment Planning Images
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Proton therapy is a form of external beam radiation therapy in which a particle accelerator is used to target a tumor with a beam of protons. Protons have a certain range, or stopping power, and few protons penetrate beyond this stopping distance, which helps prevent damage to surrounding healthy tissue and also delivers a maximum dose of radiation to the tumor site. To obtain electron stopping power information from a patient image for proton therapy treatment planning, current methods calibrate and convert the information based on X-ray ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Chronic rejection is the leading cause of long-term allograft failure in transplant recipients and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. It is a slow, ongoing process that results in replacement of allografted tissue with fibrous scar tissue. Similar to chronic rejection, progressive fibroproliferative disease occurs in native organs in which native tissue is replaced with fibrotic scar tissue, resulting in irreversible loss of function. No effective preventative or therapeutic strategy for chronic rejection ...
Device Coating Can Selectively Bind and Deliver Biologics
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
‘Biologics’ are biological molecules like growth factors that can be isolated and delivered into a subject to promote healing. The market for orthopedic growth factors nearly quadrupled in the past decade. Growth factors contained in platelet rich blood plasma, for example, may stimulate new bone and tendon development, and accelerate the healing of tissues and ligament tears. One delivery strategy involves embedding biologics within collagen sponges or other carriers that then are inserted into defective tissue. However, this may require ...
Short-Pulsed Alkali Magnetometer for Precision in Ambient Fields
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Detection of magnetic fluctuations is vital to endeavors from space navigation to oil exploration. UW–Madison researchers previously developed a method that utilizes sensitive alkali atoms—polarized by high-frequency sine-waves—within a magnetometer to detect magnetic fields and rotations (see WARF reference number P110198US01). Critically, the system suppresses the noise of the alkali atoms’ own magnetic influence using a unique combination of noble gases. Still, interference by large external magnetic fields, such as the Earth’s, ...
Tracking Tumors for Real-Time Radiation Therapy by Automatic Segmentation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
External beam radiation therapy degrades the rapidly dividing cells of a tumor by directing high-energy radiation into the target of interest to eradicate it. The efficacy of the treatment is strongly impacted by dosage, which is constrained by the need to spare surrounding tissue and organs. Directing beams to intersect across a tumor, while reducing the dose to areas outside the intersection, can reduce damage to healthy tissue. Imaging obtained by CT scan or MRI prior to therapy provides a computerized treatment plan designed to ‘segment’ ...
New Prostate Tissue Biomarkers Enhance Detection of Prostate Cancer
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Approximately 200,000 men in the United States were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009. The American Cancer Society reports that nearly 29,000 men will die annually from this disease. Typically, prostate tumors arise in multiple foci that are distributed throughout the prostate. This condition is associated with molecular changes in the histologically normal appearing associated prostate tissue, which have been termed a “field defect” or “field effect.” These genetic and epigenetic changes are ...
One-Step DNA Extraction from Dried Blood Spots for Newborn Screening
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Newborn screening is the practice of testing newborns for certain harmful or potentially fatal disorders that are not otherwise apparent at birth. Generally, blood drops are obtained from the heel, finger or ear and then absorbed onto filter paper to produce a dried blood spot collection card. The dried blood spots then are tested for a variety of individual diseases and conditions, including those of metabolic, genetic or hormonal origin. This testing saves millions of dollars each year in health care costs for people who would suffer the ...
Hearing Assistance Device for Improved Fine Structure Processing
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted prosthetic device that can provide profoundly deaf individuals with sensations of sound. These devices improve the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people worldwide; however, electric hearing still lacks the resolving ability found in normal hearing and cochlear implant users have difficulty with pitch detection and sound source localization. Current cochlear implant processing does not preserve many of the physical attributes of sounds that make then unique, such as temporal fine ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The Braille language is the universally accepted form of written communication for the visually impaired. A system of dots, arranged in a three row by two column grid, is used to display different letters, numbers and symbols. Although the Braille system provides millions of visually impaired individuals with a method for reading and writing, a device that allows the time to be read in Braille has not yet been developed. Currently, talking or tactile watches are used to tell the time. However, talking watches can be disruptive in quiet ...
Degrading Tumors with Microwave Heat Probes
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
While primary liver cancer remains one of the most pervasive solid malignancies worldwide—afflicting a million new patients annually—more than 70 percent of cases are ineligible for surgical removal. Minimally invasive therapies, like thermal tumor ablation, are becoming a more common alternative to treat this and other solid tumors, such as those of the lung, kidney and bone, and potentially breast, prostate and glands. During microwave tumor ablation, electromagnetic energy physically penetrates the tumor and is converted to heat. Enough ...
Accurate and Reliable Detection of CMV Infection in Newborns Using Dried Blood Spots
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Newborn screening is the practice of testing newborns for certain harmful or potentially fatal disorders that are not otherwise apparent at birth. Generally, blood drops are obtained from the heel, finger or ear and then absorbed onto filter paper to produce a dried blood spot collection card. The dried blood spots then are tested for a variety of individual diseases and conditions, including those of metabolic, genetic or hormonal origin. This testing saves millions of dollars each year in health care costs for people who would suffer the ...
MRI Water-Fat Separation with Full Dynamic Range Using In-Phase Images
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Chemical shift-based multi-echo water-fat separation methods have seen increased use in routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) clinical applications. These methods involve collecting multiple echoes with different water-fat phase shifts so that water and fat signals can be separated and displayed distinctly in an MR image. This distinction between water and fat is important for improved image quality and clarity, and improved images result in more accurate interpretation by the clinician. Fat and water signals can be “swapped” by imaging ...
Enhancing Light-Based Tissue Diagnostics by Dimpled Waveguide
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Compact solid-state LED/LD (light-emitting diode) light sources are by their nature near-point sources. Applications that take advantage of these highly efficient, spectrally engineered light sources often require that the light radiate from a two-dimensional surface in a spatially modulated manner. Often it is desirable that these displays be able to redirect a multiplicity of colors, as with phosphor-coated AlGaN LEDs. Currently, the ability to provide a two-dimensional distribution of multiwavelength light for clinical spectroscopic ...
Eliminating Encoding Distortion in MRI for Clarity in the Presence of Metal
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Visualizing a body’s internal structures by MRI is an essential clinical practice. Yet acquiring images in the presence of metal, like the steel screws of an implant, remains challenging because of the off-resonance, signal loss and signal pile-up artifacts that occur in the magnetic field surrounding the object. Recent methods have confronted the problem of distortion by imaging the distinct ranges of frequencies found near metal. Errors continue to arise, however, as data are acquired during frequency encoding, when a magnetic field ...
Confidence Maps for MRI Parametric Mapping
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance parametric mapping is a general framework for measuring important biomarkers. In the process, several images from the same field of view are obtained using different acquisition parameters (echo time, repetition time, encoding gradients, etc.). These different parameters help produce images in which contrast varies in a controlled way. For example, in chemical-shift encoded imaging, several images are acquired with different echo times, giving rise to different relative phases between chemical species. The map of a desired ...
Wirelessly Tracking Interventional Medical Device with MRI System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Interventional medical procedures can be performed less invasively, and more safely, when guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Placing devices like catheters, guidewires and stents using MRI guidance has great clinical potential. One particular challenge in the field, however, has been the development of safe and reliable means for tracking such devices as they are manipulated within vessels or organs. Every previous approach has drawbacks. Attaching and tracking X-ray markers requires radiation, for example, while incorporating ...
Faster, Better Quality Medical Imaging by Constrained Reconstruction
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) is a clinical procedure that can yield imaging biomarkers more sensitive and specific to underlying disease than regular MRI. It works by fitting images to analytical models of scan signals to offer unique information by producing maps of parameters that intrinsically characterize underlying tissue, such as relaxation times and chemical species separation. However, qMRI methods often are too time-consuming because they require multiple measurements along all the parameter dimensions. Similarly, ...
Better MRI Performance with Improved 3-D UTE Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
MRI produces medically valuable images of a patient’s internals using magnetic fields and pulses that align and excite nuclei. The signals emitted by excited nuclei can be measured in ‘k-space’ and used to reconstruct an image. A particular approach, called three-dimensional ultrashort echo time (UTE) imaging, has the potential to visualize areas with short signal times—like the lungs, which often appear blurry in images—and to dramatically improve efficiency. Achieving both benefits in a single scan, however, is challenging. UTE sampling ...
Virtual Reality Rehabilitation for Stroke Victims
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Research confirms that following injury the adult brain is capable of remarkable adjustments to take on changes in motor and sensory experience. For the four million Americans living with the effects of stroke, retraining the brain is a promising step towards renewed daily functioning. The quality of rehabilitation is essential. While traditional approaches focus on physical manipulation of objects like blocks and puzzles, some virtual reality devices have been developed for tracking patient movement and displaying the results on a computer ...
Accelerated MRI Scanning Using Spectral Sensitivity
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of metallic implants can be challenging because metal and surrounding tissue impact the main magnetic field differently. Such magnetic field inhomogeneities cause off-resonance effects which distort images. Methods like MAVRIC (multi-acquisition variable-resonance image combination) try to improve the diagnostic quality of images by mitigating off-resonance artifacts. MAVRIC uses multiple acquisitions with different radio frequency (RF) pulses to cover the wide range of frequencies found near metal. Each ...
Simple Test for Diagnosing Antibody-Mediated Rejection in Patients with a Kidney Transplant
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Almost 90,000 Americans develop end-stage renal disease each year. Kidney transplantation is the best therapy for these patients and offers them an improved quality of life. Although many kidney grafts are successful in the short term, long-term maintenance of the grafts is poor. A primary cause of transplant failure is cell-mediated rejection (CMR). Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR), which affects 10 to 15 percent of patients, has emerged as another important cause of graft damage and eventual loss. Unlike ...
Frequency-Narrowed High-Power Diode Laser System with External Cavity
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
An important proven use for high-power diode lasers is to produce laser-polarized gas for magnetic resonance imaging applications. Currently, high power diode laser array systems put out only a fraction of the desired wavelength. For example, a 15-watt diode array may only put out one or two watts of usable power. UW–Madison researchers have developed a high-power diode laser array system that uses an external cavity to narrow the spectral width, changing the output power from a broad spectrum to a very narrow spectrum. The light from ...
System for Intraoperative Lymphatic Mapping of the Sentinel Lymph Node
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In breast cancer, the lymph nodes are a very common site of secondary tumor formation. Sentinel lymph node scintigraphy is a minimally invasive technique used to evaluate the potential spread of cancer to the lymph nodes. The technique makes use of the fact that the blood stream leaving the tumor will carry any metastasizing cells to the first lymph node “downstream.” A radioactive agent and/or blue dye is injected around the tumor and the first lymph node to collect the tracer is removed and biopsied. A radionuclide-detecting ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Many cardiovascular diseases and other disorders result from problems with the metabolism of cholesterol, a major component of normal animal cell membranes. Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids like oleate and palmitoleate, which are major constituents of triglycerides and cholesterol esters. SCD1 is thought to influence obesity, atherosclerosis and other metabolic disorders associated with changes in lipid composition. UW–Madison researchers have ...
Dual Resolution Acquisition Of Magnetic Resonance Angiography Data with Vessel Segmentation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is a type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that generates images of blood flow through vessels. Its many medical applications include the diagnosis of artery and veins abnormalities, such as aneurysms in the brain. To enhance MRA’s diagnostic capability, a contrast agent can be injected prior to the MRA scan; however, image data must be acquired at the moment the contrast agent is flowing through the vessels of interest. Thus, images must be taken very rapidly, severely limiting their resolution ...
Enhanced Method for Vessel Segmentation to Improve Magnetic Resonance Angiography Images
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon to produce images of arteries. To enhance the diagnostic capability of MRA, a contrast agent can be injected into the patient prior to the MRA scan; however, the success of this exam depends on acquiring images during peak arterial enhancement as the contrast agent is flowing through the vasculature of interest. If the image is not acquired at the correct time, the enhancement of veins can obscure the arterial images. Image acquisition sequences of ...
Biocompatible Biomembrane Mimetic Surface Coatings
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Several problems arise when implantable medical devices are not compatible with human tissue. For example, devices inserted into the human body that are exposed to blood such as vascular stents and heart valves can cause blood clots, thereby increasing the risk of stroke. Also, tissue responses to devices that are not fully biocompatible can result in device malfunction. Several approaches to creating medical implants and prosthetic devices that are more biocompatible have been developed. One method uses silane-linking chemistry to graft ...
Interface for Electronic Devices Providing Improved Access for People with Disabilities
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Touch screen systems provide many advantages, including simplification of the user's task and elimination of a separate keyboard. However, touch screen systems present an insurmountable barrier to many people with disabilities. A UW-Madison researcher previously developed an EZ ACCESS touch screen system for the vision-impaired (see WARF reference number P95077US). UW-Madison researchers now have developed an improved EZ ACCESS touch screen system for people with disabilities. Additional features have been added to the system, ...
Ultrasonically Actuated Needle Pump System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Miniaturized needle systems that do not puncture capillaries are being developed in part due to problems that arise from repeat sampling, as in the case of blood sugar monitoring by diabetics. It has been shown previously that ultrasonically actuated, single needle devices will pump fluid from the distal to the proximal needle end. However, when these single-needle devices are inserted into the skin, vibrations on the needle are dampened, reducing the efficiency of fluid pumping. UW-Madison researchers have developed a needle pump system ...
Frequency-Narrowed High-Power Diode Laser Array Method and System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
An important proven use for high-power diode lasers is to produce laser-polarized gas for magnetic resonance imaging applications. Currently, high power diode laser array systems put out only a fraction of the desired wavelength. For example, a 15-watt diode array may only put out one or two watts of usable power. UW–Madison researchers have developed a high-power diode laser array system that uses an external cavity to narrow the spectral width, changing the output power from a broad spectrum to a very narrow spectrum. The light from ...
Magnetic Resonance Angiography Using Vastly Under-Sampled Projection Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the magnetic resonance phenomenon in conjunction with a signal-enhancing contrast agent to produce images of blood vessels. To get the best diagnostic image -- one that captures the moment when a bolus of contrast agent is flowing through a targeted vessel -- a series of images must be quickly obtained during contrast agent injection. To speed image capture while maintaining high image resolution, Dr. Mistretta and others previously applied projection reconstruction (PR) data acquisition methods to ...
Synthesis of <sup>17</sup>F Labeled Fluoroalkanes for PET
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Various isotopes have been investigated for use in positron emission tomography (PET), a widely used diagnostic imaging method. Currently, the most common flow tracer in PET is 15O-labeled water, which is easily and readily synthesized; however, it is usually administered by injection, is slow to clear test subjects and exhibits a reduced signal at high flows. 17F has a short half-life and may be a suitable isotope for use in PET, but current methods of generating 17F-labeled fluoromethane do not produce sufficient yield for practical imaging ...
Open-Chested Animal Teaching Video of Myocardial Infarction
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Myocardial infarctions are a leading cause of illness and death, yet there are no interactive media materials available to students or health professionals that demonstrate the events accompanying a heart attack or explain the mechanistic basis of heart attack symptoms and treatments. Using high-quality videotape, a team of medical researchers, practitioners and educators has developed an interactive CD-ROM showing the effects of arterial blockage in an open-chest, pig model of myocardial infarction and the accompanying changes in the ...
Use of Gadolinium Neutron Capture to Treat Cancers
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Neutron capture therapy (NCT) is a non-invasive, experimental therapy for malignant gliomas (brain cancers). The therapy involves injecting a patient with a tumor-seeking NCT agent and then exposing the patient’s skull to thermal neutrons, inducing a localized reaction that destroys both the agent and the tumor. The biggest challenge with this therapy has been to concentrate the NCT agent at the tumor, rather than allowing it to diffuse throughout the patient. UW-Madison researchers have developed a method of using ...
System to Accurately and Automatically Record Time Stamps on X-ray Radiographs
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In computed radiography (CR) and other X-ray exams, knowing exactly when an X-ray radiograph was taken can be very important to patient care as well as to hospital organization and efficiency. For example, if a series of X-rays are taken of a patient with a rapidly changing condition, knowing the exact order in which the films were exposed is critical to proper diagnosis. If the films are stamped out of order, the radiologist may report the patient’s condition is improving when, in fact, it is deteriorating. And in the absence of a ...
White Blood Cell Assay for Determining Risk of Sepsis and Other Inflammatory Disorders
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to infection that often leads to low blood pressure, organ failure, and death. Components of Gram-negative bacterial cell walls, such as endotoxin, are a potent trigger of sepsis, and high levels of endotoxin in the blood cause many of its symptoms. The nucleotide receptor P2X7 likely modulates the response of macrophages to endotoxins and may be an indicator of sepsis. UW-Madison researchers have developed a method of rapidly assaying P2X7 pore activity in white blood cells within a sample of whole ...
WURSS: An Instrument to Measure the Severity and Duration of the Common Cold
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Several validated systems exist for measuring the symptoms and severity of human ailments such as diabetes, asthma and heart conditions. Now, a group of UW-Madison medical researchers has developed an instrument for measuring the severity and functional impact of the common cold. The instrument, called the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS), provides a comprehensive set of questions covering cold symptoms and related quality-of-life outcomes experienced by cold-sufferers. Long (WURSS-44) and short (WURSS-21) versions are ...
Automatic Determination of the Arterial Input Function in Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in industrial nations, accounting for over $30 billion per year in the United States alone. The arterial input function (AIF) is instrumental in calculating physiologic quantities, such as cerebral blood flow (CBF), which in turn are used to diagnose stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases. In treating acute stroke, knowledge of CBF is critical for determining whether to administer thrombolytic agents, which have been shown to improve neurological outcome. However, these ...
Fourier Space Tomographic Image Reconstruction Method
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Most commercially available computed tomography (CT) systems employ image reconstruction methods based on the concepts of Radon space and the Radon transform. When a CT X-ray source projects a single parallel beam, the data are automatically acquired in Radon space, and thus the Fourier transform can directly solve the image reconstruction problem by applying the well-known Fourier projection-slice theorem. But when fan beam or cone beam projections are used, image reconstruction methodologies involving Radon space and the Radon transform ...
Method and Apparatus Providing Improved Ultrasonic Strain Measurements of Soft Tissue
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elastography is an acoustical imaging method used to estimate the elastic properties of soft tissue by assessing the tissue in different states of compression. Tissue that exhibits less strain under compression is assumed to be stiffer than tissue that exhibits more strain. Although elastography is useful for estimating elastic properties at locations relatively far from the site of stress concentration, some researchers have found that it fails significantly at stress concentrations near stiff inclusions because the force of compression is ...
Medical Shunt and Valve for Regulating Bodily Fluids, Especially Cerebral Spinal Fluid
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
No way currently exists to prevent or cure hydrocephalus, which is the abnormal accumulation of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) in the brain. The most effective treatment involves surgical insertion of a shunt to move excess CSF from the brain into the venous system or other receptive cavities. Most shunts contain valves that open when the pressure difference across the valve reaches a predetermined amount. However, gravity-induced pressure changes caused by a re-positioning of the head can open the valve even in the absence of CSF buildup, ...
Differentiation and Purification of Neural Precursors from Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Human embryonic stem (hES) cells have the potential to provide a source of specific cell types for research and ultimately, for therapeutic transplantation into humans. UW-Madison researchers have developed a simple and efficient method of differentiating human embryonic stem cells into neural precursor cells for pharmaceutical screening and potential transplant therapy. This system is easily standardized. First, hES cells are aggregated into embryoid bodies. Next, the embryoid bodies are treated with fibroblast growth factors to induce the ...
Electrode Array for Radiofrequency Tissue Ablation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The liver is a common site for both primary and metastasizing cancer. Surgical resection, the preferred treatment for liver cancer, is a time consuming procedure during which the surgeon must cut through tissue while avoiding or closing large blood vessels. Blood loss during resection can increase the chance of post-operative complications and decrease patient survival rates. One method of reducing blood loss is radiofrequency (RF) ablation, which involves passing an electrical current from a probe inserted into the tissue to a ground pad ...
Radiofrequency Ablation System Using Multiple-Prong Probes
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Radiofrequency (RF) tumor ablation involves passing an electrical current from a probe inserted into the tumor to a ground pad situated on the patient’s skin. The current destroys tumor cells by heating them, resulting in thermal lesions within the tumor. RF ablation originally was performed by inserting and removing a single probe at a series of locations along the tumor -- a long and time-consuming process for destroying all but the smallest of tumors. To address this issue, UW-Madison researchers previously developed a new method ...
Protectant Mixture for Use During Freezing and Drying of Human Platelets
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Blood and blood products are continuously needed for medical uses. To extend the shelf-life of blood, preservation methods such as freezing and drying are sometimes used, often in conjunction with a protectant agent that helps blood survive the stress of freezing or drying. However, protectant agents can be costly and may need to be removed before the blood can be used for medical purposes. UW-Madison researchers have developed an improved protectant mixture for preserving blood platelets. The mixture includes the platelets, at least one ...
Surgical Tool with Integrated Pressure and Flow Sensors
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Integration of sensors into surgical tools allows monitoring of important surgical variables, such as temperature, liquid pressure and liquid flow, to make surgeries safer. UW-Madison researchers have developed a surgical tool with an integrated pressure sensor that can be used to measure the pressure and flow of liquid being delivered to or removed from the surgical area. The surgical tool includes a needle-like portion that enters the tissue. The integrated sensor is coupled directly to a fluid flow channel in the tool, through which fluid ...
Method for Inducing Opioid Analgesia and Anesthesia Without Respiratory Suppression
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Opioid analgesics, which are among the most widely used and effective pain medications, often result in life-threatening respiratory depression when used to treat elderly patients or those suffering from cardiovascular, renal or chronic pulmonary diseases. A UW-Madison researcher has developed a method for reducing or eliminating respiratory depression resulting from use of opioids, without affecting their analgesic or anesthetic effects. The method involves combining an opiate or opioid analgesic or anesthetic with a D1-dopamine ...
Radio Frequency Ablation System Using Multiple Electrodes
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Radio frequency (RF) ablation is an important method of treating non-resectable primary and metastatic liver tumors. The technique uses an electric current to destroy tumor cells with heat, resulting in lesions in the tumor. RF ablation is currently performed by inserting and removing a single probe at a series of locations along a tumor; however, this process is long and time-consuming for all but the smallest of tumors because it requires multiple overlapping treatment zones. UW-Madison researchers have developed an efficient method of RF ...
MRI Method for Assessing Myocardial Viability
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of heart tissue viability and function typically includes a step in which the inversion time (TI) is set so that the signal from normal heart tissue is suppressed in the resulting MRI image. Infarcted tissue, on the other hand, will appear very bright, making diagnosis of tissue damage and death much easier. Achieving the optimal TI setting is not straightforward, however. The TI period varies from patient to patient and depends on the contrast dosage used. As a result, approximately 80 percent of myocardial ...
Video Demonstrating Minimal Incision Aortic Surgery
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a bulging of the arterial wall that occurs when the wall is weakened due to deposition of cholesterol-containing fatty deposits. High blood pressure, smoking, male gender, family history and advanced age all contribute to the risk of abdominal aneurysm, and the U.S. mortality rate for AAA is about 15,000 people per year. Conventional treatment for AAA is surgery. A large incision is made in the abdomen and a flexible graft is implanted in place of the enlarged artery. Recovery from this procedure takes ...
Apparatus for Measuring Contact Pressure between the Tongue and Hard Palate
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The tongue loses strength as individuals age, often resulting in loss of swallowing capacity (dysphagia) that in turn may lead to malnutrition in the elderly. Diagnosis followed by isometric tongue exercises can improve swallowing function; however, current devices for measuring tongue force cannot be reliably and reproducibly placed in a patient’s mouth, are not portable, only measure pressure at one point and may be too expensive for patients to buy and use for rehabilitation at home. UW-Madison researchers have developed a ...
Space-Time Microwave Imaging for Breast Cancer Detection
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Of the various imaging techniques used to screen women for early-stage breast cancer, X-ray mammography has proven the most effective. Despite its success, however, this technique suffers from relatively high rates of false-negative scores, requires painful compression of the breast, and exposes patients to low doses of ionizing radiation. UW-Madison researchers have now developed a novel imaging technique for detecting early-stage breast cancer called microwave imaging via space-time, or MIST for short. MIST makes use of the sharp ...
Brain and Deep Tissue Visualization by Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elucidating the workings and development of the brain remains a fertile topic of investigation and one reliant on non-invasive visualization technology like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). As applied in MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a technique that probes the diffusion characteristics of the brain and other deep tissues. The method has been used in several studies to infer the microstructural features of the heart, muscle tissue, bone marrow, intervertebral discs and spinal cord. For brain white matter, especially, DTI can ...
New Elastography Technique That Provides Direct Estimates of All Strain Tensor Components
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elastography is a new ultrasound imaging technique that detects and images the stiffness properties, or strain, of tissues under compression. This new modality can reveal disease properties of tissue that go undetected by conventional ultrasound. A major drawback of current elastography methods is that they typically use only the axial component of the strain tensor to produce an image. Other tensor components, such as shear strain, elevational strain and lateral strain, are disregarded, even though these components are required to fully ...
Contrast Agents That Improve GI Tract Opacification During Abdominal and Pelvic CT Scans
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Computed tomography (CT) uses special X-ray equipment to obtain image data from different angles of the body and generate a cross-sectional image of body tissues and organs. Because CT is a non-invasive procedure that provides detailed, cross-sectional images of all types of tissue, it is a preferred method for diagnosing diseases of the bowel and colon. Water or a positive, liquid contrast agent is often administered to help the radiologist better visualize the stomach, small bowel, and colon; however, these agents may not adequately ...
Endothelial Cells Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Although techniques exist for differentiating human embryonic stem cells (ES cells) into a number of specific cell types, no method currently exists for directing ES cell cultures to become endothelial cells, which line blood and lymphatic vessels and form capillaries. UW-Madison researchers have developed a simple and efficient method of inducing human embryonic stem cells to differentiate into a relatively homogenous population of endothelial cells. The method involves culturing ES cells in a commercially available medium that supports the ...
Phospholipase Activity Provides a Simple Test for Systemic Inflammation in Acute and Chronic Disease
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The inflammatory response plays a role in illnesses from injury to infections to allergies. Initiation of inflammation involves the activation of immune cells that trigger a cascade of events leading to phospholipase A2 (PLA2)-involved inflammatory processes. PLA2s are enzymes that play a vital role in regulating the production of precursors to a number of pro-inflammatory lipid mediators, including prostaglandins, leukotrienes and platelet activating factor, which in turn exert a wide range of potent physiological effects. ...
Mechanical Force Detection of Magnetic Fields Using Heterodyne Demodulation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Although detecting high-frequency magnetic fields is important in MRI, NMR and magnetic resonance force microscopes, it is more difficult to design magnetic field sensors at high frequencies (greater than 1 GHz) than at low frequencies. The sensors most commonly used for high-frequency magnetic sensing are inductive coils, where current induced in a coil is measured and the magnetic field is inferred from this measurement. UW-Madison researchers have developed a new, high-frequency magnetic field detector that uses mechanical force to ...
Radiation Therapy Volume Phantom Using Film
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Recent applications of radiation therapy involve complex intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) protocols. However, current methods for verifying radiation dose delivery are cumbersome and expensive to implement with these new IMRT protocols. UW-Madison researchers have developed a novel volume phantom for radiation therapy treatment verification. The phantom uses a single sheet of spirally rolled radiation-sensitive film to provide dose measurements in a volume. The rolled film is held within an equalizing ring of attenuating ...
Radiofrequency Ablation Using Independently Controlled Ground Pads
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Radiofrequency (RF) tumor ablation involves the passing of an electrical current from a probe inserted into the tumor to a ground pad situated on the patient’s skin. The high current density near the probe causes heating and ionic agitation within the tumor, eventually destroying, or ablating, it. Unfortunately, the ground pad also heats up during this procedure and can burn the patient’s skin, especially during prolonged ablations or when high-power generators are used to produce the current. To remedy this, RF ablation systems ...
Magnetic Resonance Angiography Using Floating Table Projection Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the magnetic resonance phenomenon in conjunction with a signal-enhancing contrast agent to provide images of blood vessels. MRA is a valuable, non-invasive screening tool for cardiovascular diseases; however, the small field of view (FOV) in MRA limits the volume of blood vessels that can be imaged during a scan. When diagnosis requires imaging of a large volume (such as in the lower extremities of the body) multiple scans must be performed, each requiring lengthy and expensive patient repositioning, ...
Three-Dimensional Phase Contrast Imaging Using Interleaved Projection Data
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the magnetic resonance phenomenon to produce images of blood vessels. There are two basic classes of non-contrast-enhanced MRA techniques: 1) time-of-flight (TOF) methods, which exploit the difference in MR signal saturation between flowing blood and stationary tissues; and 2) phase contrast (PC) methods, which encode the motion of flowing blood into the phase of the acquired signal. Although PC methods provide valuable quantitative information on blood flow, they are less popular because they ...
Method for Disinfecting Liquids in a Dense Fluid Plasma Reactor
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Certain bacteria can exist both in the vegetative state and as spores. Spores are dormant states that bacteria assume during nutritionally unfavorable conditions. In the dormant state, spores undergo no detectable metabolism and exhibit a higher degree of resistance to inactivation by wet and dry heat, freezing, UV and gamma radiation, extreme desiccation and oxidizing agents. As a result, harsher processes are required to inactivate the spores in food and water. The key to destroying spores comes in damaging their protective outer layers to ...
Depth-Resolved Fluorescence Instrument for Detecting Epithelial Pre-Cancers and Cancers
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Fluorescence spectroscopy involves irradiating tissue surfaces with light and detecting the fluorescence emitted by fluorophores in the tissue. This method provides a promising new means to detect human epithelial pre-cancerous and cancerous growths. However, the tissue depths at which current fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging devices can probe are fixed by the devices' illumination and collection geometries, and thus may not provide optimal contrast between neoplastic growth and normal tissue. UW-Madison researchers have developed a ...
Implantable Intracranial Neural Interface System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
One of the frontiers in biomedical science is the development of brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. A need exists for small-scale neurological interfaces that can potentially transmit information relating to neural activity, as well as transfer therapeutic substances to and from neurological systems. UW-Madison researchers have developed an implantable intracranial neural interface node, which provides an integrated and minimally invasive microsystem for neural recording, stimulation and delivery of chemical or biological ...
Neural Probe Array for Stable, Reliable Long-Term Implant Function
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Electrodes inserted into the brain can be used to monitor and record neural activity. However, conventional electrode arrays have several limitations, including a short functional life. UW-Madison researchers have developed an improved neural probe array that is designed for reliable and stable long-term implant function. The new design is more biocompatible than previous neural interfaces. The array can be subdurally implanted in the brain to record intracranial field potentials in animals or humans and then transmit that information to ...
Microfluidic Device for Drug Delivery
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Oral ingestion of pharmaceuticals is considered the safest, most convenient and most economical method of administering drugs. However, many pharmaceuticals cannot be delivered orally because they are too large or too electrically charged to pass through the small intestine into the bloodstream, or because they are unable to withstand the environment of the digestive tract. As an alternative to oral administration, UW-Madison researchers have developed a microfluidic device for delivering a steady infusion of a drug through the skin. The ...
Time-Resolved, Computed Tomographic Angiography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Researchers have recently achieved computed tomographic (CT) imaging of large volumes by using rotating gantries equipped with large-area, flat-panel detectors and have applied this technique to contrast-enhanced (CE) angiography. To get the best diagnostic image in CE angiography, a series of images must be quickly obtained during contrast agent injection; however, readout with flat-panel CT detectors is relatively slow. Thus, when this technique is used to rapidly capture images during angiography, only limited image data can be acquired ...
Magnetic Resonance Imaging with Fat Suppression
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Vastly Under-sampled Isotropic Projection Reconstruction (VIPR) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data acquisition technique that provides high resolution images at speeds up to 30 times faster than conventional Cartesian methods (see WARF reference number P01008US). By employing VIPR, a team of UW-Madison medical physicists was previously able to create high resolution isotropic images of blood vessels during a two-minute scan without the need for a contrast agent. They also achieved excellent separation of fat and water and extremely ...
Improved Magnetic Resonance Signal Emitting Coatings
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Since its introduction, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used primarily in diagnostic applications; however, recent advances have permitted its use to expand to therapeutic procedures. MRI holds particular promise in endovascular therapy, a class of minimally invasive techniques for treating vascular disease in which a catheter is inserted into a blood vessel to deliver a therapeutic device or agent. MRI-guided endovascular therapy provides a number of advantages, but still lacks an effective and reliable means for tracking the ...
Elastographic Imaging of Soft Tissue <i>in Vivo</i>
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elastography is a new ultrasound imaging technique that detects and images the local stiffness properties of tissues during compression. Three-dimensional (3-D) elastography provides a way to visualize cancerous tumors, track changes in tumor size over the course of therapy and monitor the treated margins of a tumor during radio frequency (RF) ablation. In RF ablation, large differences in stiffness between the ablated tumor and surrounding normal tissues allow elastographic imaging of the ablated region’s size, volume and position. ...
Patient Support Bench and Method for Diagnosing Spinal Abnormalities with MRI
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In healthy individuals, rotation of the five lumbar vertebrae of the lower spine is limited by strong, interlocking fibers, which hold the vertebrae in place and restrict the amount of twisting between them. Sometimes these fibers become damaged and excessive rotation occurs, a problem doctors may choose to fix by fusing the vertebrae together. Approximately 60,000 spinal fusion operations are performed annually in the United States. The clinical indication for most of these is “instability,” a condition that is poorly defined and ...
Automated Evaluation of Ultrasonic Elasticity Images
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ultrasound-based elasticity imaging uses signals from conventional diagnostic ultrasound systems to show the mechanical properties of tissue (e.g., stiffness or Poisson’s ratio). In quasi-static elasticity imaging, images of the tissue in different states of deformation are compared to measure the amount of strain the tissue experiences; however, manual deformation of the tissue under a typical clinical setting with freehand scanning requires considerable operator skill to maintain high image quality. UW-Madison researchers have ...
High-Speed Computed Tomography System Using a Spherical Anode for Improved Medical Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Computed tomography (CT) is a medical imaging method that creates 3-D images from a large set of 2-D images by measuring the attenuation of an X-ray beam’s signal that is directed transversely through the patient. Both the X-ray source and detector array are mounted on a gantry and rotated around the patient. Radial measurements, or “projections,” are taken at various angles in a transverse plane to make up a “projection set” forming a 2-D cross-sectional image. The time required to collect ...
Systems and Methods for the Cyclotron Production of Iodine-124
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Position emission tomography (PET) plays a vital role in the diagnosis of health and disease. The long-lived isotope iodine-124 (I-124; half-life 4.2 days) has many features that make it an attractive imaging agent for PET; however, commercial biomedical cyclotrons have not been able to produce large quantities of I-124. UW-Madison researchers have developed an improved method for the cyclotron production of I-124 using an aluminum telluride (Al2Te3) target. The method involves producing I-124 from an isotopically enriched aluminum telluride ...
Correction of CT Images for Truncated or Incomplete Projections
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In clinical computed tomography (CT) practice, image artifacts arise when some data is missing or inconsistent, such as in the case of large patients that extend beyond the imaging field of view or patients with metallic objects, such as dental fillings, that strongly absorb X-rays. These artifacts can obscure anatomical details. A UW-Madison researcher has developed a data consistency condition for estimating missing or contaminated values from the fan-beam projections used in CT. The data consistency condition is used to calculate ...
Time-Domain Inverse Scattering Techniques for Use in Microwave Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Microwave-based imaging methods, which exploit the contrast in dielectric properties between normal and malignant tissue, offer a promising alternative to ultrasound and X-ray techniques for imaging breast tissue. Malignant tissue is most accurately detected and localized when the processing algorithms include the average properties of the actual, heterogeneous breast tissue, which vary from patient to patient; however, current techniques for solving the equations to estimate these properties suffer from nonlinearity and ill-posedness of the ...
Fan- and Cone-Beam Image Reconstruction Using Filtered Backprojection of Differentiated Projection
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The Feldkamp (FDK) algorithm is widely used for image reconstruction for cone-beam projections, which are utilized in three-dimensional computed tomography (CT). However, because current FDK-type algorithms started from a naïve generalization of fan-beam reconstruction methods, they do not account for the complexity of today’s cone-beam geometries. A UW-Madison researcher has developed an improved algorithm that provides better image quality than FDK-type algorithms. This new algorithm was derived from cone-beam geometries. ...
Microwave-Based Breast Cancer Detection Using Hypothesis Testing
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
X-ray mammography is currently the most effective method for detecting early-stage breast cancer; however, mammography suffers from relatively high false positive and false negative rates, requires painful breast compression and exposes the patient to low levels of ionizing radiation. UW-Madison researchers have developed a method of identifying malignant breast tissue that uses hypothesis testing and microwave backscatter measurements. Breast tissue is illuminated with an ultrawideband (UWB) microwave pulse. The resulting backscatter ...
Surface Identification Using Microwave Signals for Microwave-Based Detection of Cancer
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
UW-Madison researchers previously developed a novel imaging technique for detecting breast cancer (see WARF reference number P01386US). This technique makes use of the sharp contrast in dielectric properties between breast carcinomas and normal tissue at microwave frequencies. Like most microwave-based breast imaging algorithms, it relies upon knowledge of the location of the breast surface relative to the transmitting and receiving antennas; however, this location is unknown a priori and varies from patient to patient. UW-Madison ...
Marker Sequences for Liver and Other Cancers
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide; however, its precise molecular causes are unknown. UW-Madison researchers have identified polypeptides whose expression is upregulated in liver tumor cells and cells from pre-neoplastic foci in liver tissue. These polypeptides may be overexpressed in tumor and pre-neoplastic cells in general; the researchers have so far demonstrated their overexpression in human breast, colon and kidney cancer cell lines, in addition to liver tumors.
Method and System for Rapid and Reliable Testing of Speech Intelligibility in Children
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In order to detect and treat hearing problems as early as possible, evaluating speech intelligibility – the ability to hear and understand speech – is particularly important in children. However, current hearing tests for children do not sufficiently engage children (who have short attention spans), do not allow evaluation under real world conditions, and do not provide a clinically reliable means to link the child’s environmental experience to the audiology clinic. A UW-Madison researcher has developed an improved ...
Radiotherapy Planning Tool That Achieves Multi-Beam Function from Single Beam System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Radiotherapy employs high-energy radiation to treat tumors. Electron radiotherapy is especially useful for superficial cancers, such as skin, breast, head and neck tumors, because the effect of the radiation decreases rapidly as it penetrates the tissue. The amount and placement of the radiation must be controlled to achieve an effective dose while minimizing damage to surrounding tissue. This control is achieved by varying the beam size and intensity, or by placing a bolus made of tissue-mimicking material over the skin of the ...
Method and Apparatus for Cardiac Elastography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elastography is a new medical imaging technique that detects and images the stiffness properties -- such as axial strain, lateral strain and Poisson’s ratio -- of tissues under compression. Given the heart’s ability, through its muscular action, to provide the needed compression for elastography, this technique shows substantial promise as a tool for detecting cardiac disease. The strains depicted in an elastrographic image can reveal both the normal contraction associated with proper heart function, and the reduction in ...
Depth-Resolved Reflectance Instrument
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Phsyicians often use microscopic visual inspection followed by biopsy to detect cancer; however, this method is limited in many ways. Optical techniques are a promising alternative that allows clinicians to quickly and nondestructively measure properties of tissue layers in vivo that are associated with pre-cancer and cancer. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy involves illuminating surfaces and measuring diffusely scattered light from the same surface. It has been shown that absorption and scattering in pre-cancerous and cancerous tissues ...
Phase Contrast MRI with Dual Velocity-Encoded Projection Reconstruction Acquisition
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Phase contrast (PC) MRI studies are advantageous because they don’t require a contrast agent and can provide quantitative information on blood flow. However, if blood velocity exceeds the maximum velocity (VENC) encoded by the flow sensitization gradients, blood velocity can be aliased to an artificially low value. Dr. Mistretta previously developed an MRI technique, called Phase contrast Imaging using PRojections (PIPR), which creates PC images by acquiring interleaved projection data without the use of phase encoding gradients (see ...
Method and Apparatus for Low Dose Computed Tomography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
One problem associated with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is that the precise position, shape and size of the target often changes between the time the plan was developed and the actual treatment time. Computed tomography (CT) is used to monitor the target geometry at the time of radiation treatment so the treatment plan may be adjusted to maximize the benefit of IMRT; however, incorporating a CT machine into the IMRT machine can result in an unnecessarily high imaging radiation dose. Radiation exposure to the patient can be ...
Oral-Lever Resistance Exercise Device
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The tongue loses strength as a result of aging, illness or injury, often resulting in loss of swallowing capacity (dysphagia) that in turn may lead to malnutrition, dehydration or pneumonia. NIH-funded research has shown that isometric tongue exercises can improve swallowing function. UW-Madison researchers previously described an electro-mechanical device that can be used to exercise the tongue muscle (see WARF reference number P01398US). The researchers have now developed a simpler and cheaper mechanical device that can be used for tongue ...
Method for Extraction of Optical Properties from Diffuse Reflectance Spectra
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy can be used to measure tissue absorption and scattering, which reflect the intrinsic physiological and structural properties of tissue respectively. This technique can potentially improve the accuracy of needle biopsy for diagnosing breast cancer. It could also be used for early diagnosis of cancers in other organ sites, minimizing the need for invasive surgical biopsies. However, current methods of extracting information about tissue from diffuse reflectance measurements are either computationally intensive ...
Method and System for Analyzing the Flow of Cerebrospinal Fluid
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Chiari malformation is a birth defect that occurs in approximately 1 in 2,000 births. In this disorder, part of the cerebellum (the tonsils) descends into the opening at the base of the skull through which the spinal cord travels. This impedes CSF flow between the cranium and spine, causing high pressures to build up, damaging the spinal cord. Traditionally, physicians have diagnosed Chiari malformation by measuring the degree of the tonsils’ descent with MRI. However, because little correlation exists between this marker and ...
Ultrasound Determination of Vascular Age
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Coronary heart disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. A key challenge facing the cardiology community is the identification of high-risk individuals who would benefit from aggressive medical therapy. Traditional risk assessment models, such as the Framingham global risk assessment, fall short because they only estimate the short-term risk of coronary heart disease and not an individual’s overall risk. A UW-Madison researcher has combined direct measurements of atherosclerotic burden with existing ...
Elastography Method for Parallel Processing of Tissue Displacement Estimates
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ultrasonic elastography reveals disease properties of tissue that go undetected with conventional ultrasound. It accomplishes this by imaging the stiffness properties, or strain, of tissues under compression. Elastography commonly acquires one image before a tissue is externally compressed by the ultrasound operator and a second after tissue deformation. To produce the final strain image, an analysis identifies corresponding points in the pre- and post-compression image data sets and calculates the amount of displacement between them. ...
Device for Treating Venous Congestion
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Venous congestion, where excess blood pools in replanted tissue, is a potential post-surgical complication of reconstructive or microvascular surgery. If surgical correction of venous congestion fails, the current method of treatment involves applying live, medicinal leeches to the congested area. However, leeches can move off congested tissue and feed on normal skin, are difficult to use near body openings because of their potential for migration, may harbor serious pathogens and can remove only a limited quantity of blood. UW-Madison ...
Parametric Ultrasound Imaging by Using Angular Compounding to Reduce Statistical Variability
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ultrasound scanners transmit an ultrasonic signal into a patient and then receive and analyze an echo signal from the patient’s tissue. In conventional gray scale imaging, the most widely used mode, only the echo signal’s amplitude is extracted and analyzed. Parametric ultrasound imaging, on the other hand, extracts additional echo signal frequency and/or phase information, and processes it to reveal tissue microstructure and disease properties not seen with conventional ultrasound imaging. Parametric measurements, however, ...
Application of NADH Cytochrome B5 Reductase/System for Direct Metabolism of Xenobiotics
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The NADH cytochrome b5 reductase/cytochrome b5 system can transfer electrons to other enzymes, including those involved in the metabolism of fatty acids, toxins and drugs. In the past, NADH cytochrome b5 reductase has been considered a “helper” enzyme, with no direct role in drug metabolism. UW-Madison researchers have now shown that NADH cytochrome b5 reductase, along with cytochrome b5, can directly metabolize a hydroxylamine drug metabolite that may be important in sulfonamide drug hypersensitivity. Thus, NADH cytochrome b5 ...
Estrogen-Related Receptor Gamma, a Breast Cancer Biomarker and Target for Treatment
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha) has become the single most important biomarker and target for breast cancer therapy. The human estrogen-related receptor gamma (ERR-gamma) is an orphan receptor that shares significant amino acid sequence identity with ER-alpha. UW-Madison researchers have developed methods for using ERR-gamma as both a breast cancer biomarker and a target for treatment. As a biomarker, it provides a method of determining a patient’s breast cancer prognosis. Expression levels of ERR-gamma are analyzed along with the ...
Method and Device for Planning Treatment with Implanted Radioactive Seeds
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Prostate cancer is often treated today by implanting tiny sources of radiation, known as seeds, in and around the tumorous tissue, a treatment known as brachytherapy. In order to deliver the prescribed radiation dose to the tumor while sparing healthy tissues and organs, seeds must be placed in a precise pattern. Treatment optimization methods have been developed that first calculate many possible seed patterns and the doses they will deliver, and then select the one that delivers the optimal dose. However, this process is time-consuming even ...
Elastographic Imaging of the Cervix and Uterine Wall
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elastography is a new ultrasound imaging technique that detects and images the local stiffness properties of tissues under compression. Elastrography promises to improve the diagnosis of several uterine and cervical disorders. For example, it could provide a more direct measure of cervical incompetence – a disorder believed to be the principal cause of an estimated 25 percent of premature deliveries – because the stiffness properties of the cervix relate more closely to cervical competence than does the current measure, cervical ...
Use of Estrogen-Related Receptor Alpha Status to Determine Breast Cancer Prognosis and Treatment
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The human estrogen-related receptor alpha (ERR-alpha) is an orphan member of the steroid/thyroid hormone superfamily with no known ligand. UW-Madison researchers have developed methods for using ERR-alpha as both a breast cancer biomarker and a target for treatment. As a biomarker, ERR-alpha provides a means to determine the breast cancer prognosis of a patient. Along with the status of other genes related to breast cancer, the expression level of ERR-alpha can be analyzed to help cancer patients make informed treatment choices. A high level ...
Cone-Beam Filtered Backprojection Image Reconstruction Method for Short Trajectories
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In computed tomography (CT) imaging, divergent beam data acquisition modes have the potential to speed up data acquisition and shorten scan time. However, image reconstruction from divergent-beam projections poses a challenge. A UW-Madison researcher has developed a method for accurately reconstructing images from divergent beams of acquired image data. In this new cone-beam filtered back projection (FBP) reconstruction method, a shift-invariant FBP algorithm is applied to the arc scaning path. The algorithm filters the pre-weighted and ...
Malignant Endothelial Cell Line and Its Use in Angiogenesis Models
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Angiogenesis, or the formation of new blood vessels, is a potential therapeutic target because angiogenesis is required for the spread and growth of tumors. Current methods of studying angiogenesis in the laboratory are limited by the transient nature of angiogenic events and limited accessibility to angiogenic tissue. UW-Madison resarchers have developed an immortalized hemangiosarcoma cell line of malignant canine endothelial cells. This cell line induces endothelial cell tumors in immunocompromised mice, making the cells and the animals ...
Device for Calibrating Radiation Therapy Machines During Rotation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In radiation therapy, cancerous tissue is typically irradiated from many different angles, with the intensity and shape of the radiation beam adjusted for each angle. Radiation therapy machines must be checked regularly to ensure they are administering the correct radiation dose; however, the existing phantom for checking a radiation therapy machine’s output energy cannot be used while the machine is rotating in a helical motion. A UW-Madison researcher has developed a fast and convenient phantom that provides improved quality ...
Ultra Low Radiation Dose Computed Tomography Scanner for X-ray Mammography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women today with all women having approximately an 11 to12 percent chance of developing this cancer and a 30 to 40 percent chance of death after development. X-ray mammography is the best detection method, which reduces mortality by 30 to 50 percent. However, 30 percent of breast cancers cannot be detected by this method due to large amounts of noise, low resolution, dense breast tissue, normal tissue mimicking tumors and other reasons. The median detectable breast cancer ...
Directionally Emitting Radioactive Sources for Brachytherapy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Brachytherapy is a radiation treatment in which small, radioactive seeds are placed into a patient’s body to destroy diseased tissue. In placing these radiation sources, particularly in the region between healthy tissue and diseased tissue, practitioners must balance the need to provide a sufficient dose to destroy diseased tissue while minimizing the risk to healthy tissue. UW-Madison researchers have developed radioactive seeds that emit radiation in a directional pattern for improved treatment of diseased tissue at the interface ...
Floating Sleeve Microwave Antenna for Tumor Ablation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In microwave ablation, a coaxial microwave antenna is inserted into tissue in or near a tumor to deliver microwave energy to the region and remove the tumor. The specific absorption rate (SAR) pattern of energy deposited into the tumor is a function of microwave power and antenna design. Currently, single probe percutaneous microwave ablation can only treat relatively small lesions because microwave power to the antenna must be limited; otherwise, excessive backward heating, which could burn skin and damage healthy tissue, might occur due ...
Methods for Identifying Neuronal Spikes
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Electrodes placed deep within the brain can deliver electrical impulses directly to nerve centers for the treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and dystonia. The electrodes must be placed precisely, based on which neurons fire during particular stimuli. However, it is difficult for human operators to distinguish neuronal activity spikes from background noise or other neurons, making it difficult to identify the proper place for the electrodes. This task becomes virtually impossible because the number of electrodes ...
Method to Suppress Background Tissues in Time-Resolved Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Angiographic exams are typically interested in the arterial vasculature and not in fat or other static background tissues. To remove background tissue during contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), a mask image is usually taken before the contrast agent is injected, and then subtracted from a second image acquired with the contrast agent. This process has a number of drawbacks, however: it requires additional time, decreases the signal-to-noise ratio of the final image, causes artifacts if the patient moves between the two ...
Localized Delivery of Nucleic Acid by Polyelectrolyte Assemblies
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Thin films and coatings that allow the sustained release of DNA from surfaces play an important role in the development of localized approaches to gene therapy. For example, polymer-coated intravascular stents have been used to localize delivery of DNA to the vascular wall and could lead to innovative gene-based treatments for vascular diseases. However, existing devices are coated with relatively thick films of polymers, which can lead to inflammatory responses in vivo. They also utilize DNA encapsulation methods that provide limited ...
Method to Diagnose and Treat Degenerative Joint Disease
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Joint disease results in huge economic costs and can significantly reduce the quality-of-life of people who suffer from it. Pain, inflammation, and instability of the joint are common. Treatment is generally limited to easing the pain and reducing the swelling, but for joints with end-stage disease, surgical treatments, such as arthrodesis (fusion of the joint) or prosthetic joint replacement are also often used. No cure for degenerative joint disease or arthritis currently exists. UW-Madison researchers have developed methods for detecting ...
Multilayer Tissue Regeneration System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Under physiological conditions, bone tissue regeneration involves a complex interplay of multiple biologically active molecules and stem cells. The molecules are often presented sequentially in cascades, where each factor has a distinct effect on the cells of a growing bone. A UW-Madison researcher has developed an approach for regenerating natural skeletal tissues that more closely mimics in vivo conditions by localizing and temporally controlling the activity of multiple growth factors. This method for growing tissue is based on a matrix ...
Improved CT Image Reconstruction Method for Use with 1-D Detector Arrays
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The introduction of 2-D detector arrays significantly improved the diagnostic potential of computed tomography (CT). However, accurate and efficient image construction from the data provided by these detectors has been challenging. A UW–Madison researcher has developed an improved algorithm for reconstructing CT images from scans performed with a fan beam source and a 1-D detector array. A major advantage of this algorithm is that, unlike those employed by most commercially available CT systems, images can be accurately ...
Using Environmental and Genetic Factors to Assess Predisposition to Antisocial Behavior in Humans
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Childhood maltreatment is a universal risk factor for antisocial behavior. Children who experience abuse are at risk of developing conduct disorder and antisocial personality symptoms and of becoming violent offenders. However, children demonstrate significant differences in their response to maltreatment. Although maltreatment increases the risk of criminality by about 50 percent, most mistreated children do not become criminals. The reason for this variability is unknown, but genes, such as the gene for monoamine ...
MiR-155 Assay Provides a Diagnostic Test Indicative of B-Cell Lymphoma
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding, single-stranded RNA molecules approximately 21-22 nucleotides long. These tiny molecules are implicated in the regulation of gene expression and may play a critical role in cell development, proliferation, differentiation, metabolism and apoptosis. Developmental defects and tumorigenesis can result from abnormal expression of miRNAs. UW-Madison researchers have developed a method of using the amount of a particular miRNA to diagnose B-cell lymphoma and determine a patient’s prognosis. They identified ...
Device to Facilitate Controlled Rotation of the Cervical Spine
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Imaging of the neck, or cervical spine, via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) can give insight into cerebral spinal fluid flow patterns, nerve compression, spinal instability and intervertebral disk damage. Diagnosis of these and other conditions often requires that images of the patient’s spine be taken while the spine is rotated about its axis or while the spine undergoes flexion/extension; however, current cervical rotation devices are difficult to rotate, time-consuming, cumbersome and/or difficult to ...
Spatial Control of Signal Transduction
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Development of most tissue types involves a complex interplay of multiple growth factors in well defined locations, leading to controlled differentiation of precursor cells into mature, tissue-specific cell types. Ultimately, control over growth factor activity in a three-dimensional construct could allow the growth of hybrid tissues or organs with multiple cell types from a single stem cell precursor. However, existing approaches to growth factor presentation are not conducive to spatial patterning of growth factor activity or sustained ...
Method of Analyzing Breast Cancer Susceptibility
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Breast cancer poses a serious health problem to many women, but it is difficult to tell who is at risk. Because of their genetic background, 50 percent of women are at much higher risk for breast cancer, while the other half has almost no risk. If the genes linking susceptibility to breast cancer could be identified, individuals who are at risk could be notified. UW-Madison researchers have developed a method of analyzing breast cancer susceptibility based on a subject’s DNA. They used quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, a ...
Using Environmental and Genetic Factors to Assess Predisposition to Depression in Humans
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Depression affects approximately 15 million adults in the U.S. each year. Although the precise molecular cause of depression is not yet known, abnormalities in certain neurotransmitter systems, such as serotonin, may play a role. In addition, some types of depression are believed to have a strong genetic component, but specific genes for depression have not been identified. The serotonin transporter (5HTT) gene may play a role in depression. This gene has two main alleles: the short, or “s” allele, and the long, or ...
X-Ray System for Use in Image-Guided Procedures
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Although stroke afflicts more than 700,000 people in the United States annually, the only FDA-approved clinical treatment is intravenous administration of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) within three hours of stroke onset. Recent studies have shown that the three hour window in which the benefits of tPA outweigh its risks can be lengthened. Clinical outcome is often determined by the residual perfusion of affected tissues, rather than by the state of clot lysis as seen in conventional angiograms. However, despite the importance of ...
Cell Line for Evaluating Influenza Virus Sensitivity to NA Inhibitors
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The extensive use of neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors to treat influenza virus infections by reducing viral sialidase activity requires close monitoring for resistant variants. However, cultured cells do not provide a reliable means of evaluating the susceptibility of human influenza virus isolates to NA inhibitors. The growth of influenza viruses in most cell lines is not inhibited by these drugs, even though their sialidase activity may be drug-sensitive. A UW-Madison researcher has developed a cell line that is capable of universally ...
Device for Placement of Needles and Seeds in Radiotherapy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Prostate cancer is often treated today by brachytherapy, a procedure that involves implanting tiny radiation sources, known as seeds, in and around the tumor. Guided by real-time ultrasound imaging, surgeons usually implant seeds into the prostate through needles inserted into holes in a rectangular plate. Most often, these plates contain a fixed grid pattern of holes spaced 0.5 cm apart. UW-Madison research has recently shown that closer spacing of the seeds could help optimize the radiation dose to the tumor while sparing healthy tissue. ...
Isotropic Imaging of Vessels with Fat Suppression
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Vastly Under-sampled Isotropic Projection Reconstruction (VIPR) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data acquisition technique that provides high resolution images at speeds up to 30 times faster than conventional Cartesian methods (see WARF reference number P01008US). By employing VIPR, a team of UW-Madison medical physicists has been able to create high resolution isotropic images of blood vessels during a two-minute scan without the need for a contrast agent. In addition, they have achieved excellent separation of fat and water and ...
Diagnosing Synovial Disease by Detecting Bacterial DNA in Stifle Synovial Tissues
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Joint disease is the leading cause of disability among Americans, with one in three adults suffering from the disease. Not just a problem for humans, more than one billion dollars is spent each year treating stifle arthritis and associated degenerative cranial cruciate ligament rupture in dogs. However, diagnosis of synovitis (inflammation of the membrane around a joint) and other joint disease has been largely subjective. A UW-Madison researcher has developed a more quantitative method of diagnosing chronic synovitis and progressive joint ...
Method for Improved Efficiency and Image Quality of Parallel MRI using Radial Acquisition Trajectory
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a diagnostic imaging technique that is especially effective for soft tissues such as the brain or other organs. To produce an MR image the patient is subjected to a polarizing magnetic field, B0, causing the protons of water molecules in tissues to align with the field in a random fashion characterized by the Larmor frequency. An excitation field, B1, then is applied perpendicular to B0 via radio frequency (RF) antenna or coils, which induces a slight excitation in the protons magnetic moment, ...
Multi-Mode Medical Tracking and Visualizing System for MR Guided Interventional Procedures
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance (MR) has been utilized largely for medical diagnostic applications, but recent advancements have allowed it to replace many previously performed X-ray examinations. Even more recently, advances have started to permit the use of MR for monitoring and control of therapeutic endovascular interventions. Endovascular therapy is a minimally invasive surgical technique that uses a medical device such as a catheter in the vascular system to access and treat a range of diseases such as vascular disease and ...
High Coherent Power, Two-Dimensional Surface-Emitting Semiconductor Diode Array Laser
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
A UW-Madison researcher previously described a high-power, single-mode, two-dimensional, semiconductor diode laser formed on a substrate with an anti-guided array of laterally spaced grating surface emitters (see WARF reference number P02180US). However, scaling that device to include longer arrays reduces device efficiency and output power due to a destructive interference effect inherent in devices with long gratings of constant periodicity. The UW-Madison researcher has now developed a semiconductor laser that uses a variable periodicity, ...
Training Device for Muscle Activation Patterns
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Movement of human limbs requires the coordination of multiple muscles. Such coordination is learned through extensive practice but can be disrupted by injuries or diseases such as traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, stroke or Parkinson’s disease. Loss of coordination makes common tasks like walking difficult. Thus, an important objective of physical therapy is the retraining of neural control of limb muscles. One component of control not adequately addressed by current therapies is the relative activation of muscles crossing ...
Parallel Magnetic Resonance Imaging Method Using a Radial Acquisition Trajectory
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In magnetic resonance systems, individual phased-array coils each sense a signal from a different part of the body. A composite image is then formed using an algorithm. Although parallel imaging can be incorporated to reduce data acquisition time, the two leading methodologies are slow or inaccurate when used to describe spiral or radial acquisitions of MRIs. UW-Madison researchers have developed a post-processing algorithm that quickly compiles a high-quality composite of radial trajectory magnetic resonance images. In radial acquisition of ...
Two-Step Strain Estimation Method to Improve Ultrasonic Elasticity Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. Currently in the U.S., 2.4 million women have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. The most common method of detecting breast cancer is palpation, in which a physician feels the difference in elasticity between healthy and cancerous tissues. Ultrasound imaging systems also can characterize the elasticity of tissues, called ultrasonic elasticity imaging, to diagnose breast cancer and other diseases that alter the elastic properties of tissues. In ...
Highly Constrained Backprojected Reconstruction (HYPR) for Magnetic Resonance Images
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique that measures the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to image internal parts of the body. One method used to reconstruct images from NMR data sets involves backprojecting the processed NMR data to the signal receivers to reconstruct the image. An incorrect assumption is made that the backprojected signal is homogeneous. The resulting error is minimized by taking sufficient data sets, which increases scan time. Methods developed to decrease the long scan time ...
Highly Constrained Backprojected Reconstruction (HYPR) for Computed Tomography Images
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Computed tomography (CT) is a medical imaging technique that takes many 2-D X-ray images to generate 3-D images. The most common method for reconstructing the final 3-D image is called the filtered backprojection technique in which an incorrect assumption is made that the backprojected signal is homogeneous. The resulting error is minimized by taking a sufficient amount of data or increasing the X-ray intensity, which increase scan time and the X-ray dose to the subject, respectively. In some clinical applications, the time ...
Identification of Disease Characteristics Using Isotope Ratios in Breath
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
UW-Madison researchers previously described a method of determining whether or not an animal is suffering from a catabolic change by sampling isotope changes in breath or blood (see WARF reference number P93081US). The researchers now have developed a method of using isotope changes in breath to distinguish bacterial infections from viral infections in humans and other animals. A cavity ringdown spectrometer is used to collect and analyze the isotopes in breath samples taken from a subject over time. A change in the ratio of one stable ...
Non-Invasive Diagnosis and Evaluation of Disease
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
A complex network of biochemical processes underlies living systems. As these biochemical processes change, there is a corresponding change in the biological substances that are consumed or produced. For instance, when a system is challenged by a pathogen, the levels of different biological substances change depending on the specific type of challenge (e.g., a bacteria or a virus). These biological substances that change are known as biomarkers. For example, the amino acids leucine, valine and threonine are biomarkers that increase following ...
Low Skin Dose Patient Positioning Device for Radiation Treatment of Prone Breast
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In radiation therapy for breast cancer, the patient lies face down on a table with one breast compressed and the other pendant through a hole in the table where it is exposed to radiation. The skin is not burned because the maximum dose is not achieved until the radiation has traveled through a certain amount of tissue, called the build-up region. However, if the radiation is directed at an angle through the padded table, the padding acts as the build-up region, causing the skin to receive a greater dose. UW-Madison researchers have ...
Prostate Cancer and Melanoma Screening
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Almost 200,000 men in the United States develop prostate cancer each year. More than 60,000 people develop melanoma. Early diagnosis is key to survival because the best treatment and prognosis for these diseases depends on early detection. However, diagnostic procedures, such as biopsies or imaging tests, are often invasive and uncomfortable. UW-Madison researchers have developed a minimally invasive method of screening for prostate cancer or melanoma. They identified a number of antigens to which patients with prostate cancer or melanoma ...
Electromechanical Force-Magnitude, Force-Angle Sensor
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
UW-Madison researchers previously described a piece of exercise equipment for rehabilitation of stroke patients and sport-specific training of athletes that allows users to measure and train the magnitude and direction of the force generated with the leg (see WARF reference number P05358US). UW-Madison researchers have now developed an improved, less expensive force sensor for that device. The new sensor measures force direction from the orientation of a mechanical linkage between a pedal and the base. The linkage moves like a ...
Optimizing Probes to Improve Spectroscopic Measurement in Turbid Media
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Fiber optic probes can be used for spectroscopic measurement of tissue. A fiber optic tube emits light on one side of the tissue that is absorbed and measured on the other side by fiber optic detectors. The interaction between the light and tissue gives information about the absorption and scattering properties of the tissue, which is useful in medical diagnosis. There are many variants in probe design, including diameter of fiber optic emitters and detectors, the distance between them, and the number of detectors. Because the interaction ...
Using Stromal Collagen to Help Diagnose and Characterize Breast Cancer
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Biomedical imaging allows physicians to detect the onset of disease, injury and other disorders at an early stage, and to monitor their progression. UW-Madison researchers have developed an imaging method that may assist in diagnosing cancerous and precancerous conditions in breast tissue. Because breast cancer is frequently associated with the increased deposition of proteins, particularly collagen, in the extracellular matrix, the inventors developed three tumor-associated collagen signatures, or TACS, which provide novel markers for ...
Method and System for Delivering Nucleic Acid into a Target Cell
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The normal growth and development of tissue requires a complex interplay of multiple signals from multiple genes in well-defined locations, leading to the controlled differentiation of precursor cells into mature, tissue-specific cell types. Ultimately, control over gene expression in a three-dimensional construct could allow the growth of transplantable hybrid tissues or organs from a single stem cell precursor. However, previous approaches for delivering DNA sequences, such as plasmid DNA and antisense oligonucleotides, to direct cell ...
Multipotent Lymphohematopoietic Progenitor Cells
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Human embryonic stem (hES) cells have the potential to provide a source of specific cell types for research and ultimately, for therapeutic transplantation into humans. UW-Madison researchers have developed a population of cells derived from hES cells that comprise unique, multipotent lymphohematopoietic progenitors. The cells, which were obtained from co-culture of hES cells with OP9 stromal cells, are CD34 and CD43 positive, but CD45 and lin negative. These cells express gene profiles characteristic of definitive, multipotent hematopoietic ...
Highly Constrained Image Reconstruction for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a technique that measures a subject’s nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to produce spectra of its tissue components. In medical diagnosis and treatment, it can be used to identify and quantify metabolites from a desired region. One method used to reconstruct images from NMR projection views involves backprojecting the processed NMR data to the signal receivers. A common error is the false assumption of homogeneity of the backprojected signal. This error is minimized by ...
Highly Constrained Image Reconstruction for Medical Imaging Applications
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique that measures a subject’s nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to form images of internal structures. Computed tomography (CT) is another medical imaging technique that measures the attenuation of an X-ray beam’s signal to form images. To create images from a specific data set, the images must be reconstructed. One method used to reconstruct images involves backprojection of the processed data, which is essentially the same for MRI and CT data. A common ...
Method and Apparatus for Acoustoelastic Extraction of Strain and Material Properties
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elastography is an acoustical imaging method used to estimate the elastic properties, or stiffness, of soft tissue by assessing the tissue in different states of stress or compression. Tissue that exhibits less strain under a given amount of stress is assumed to be stiffer than tissue that exhibits more strain. Conventional analyses of strain involve measuring the motion of tissue, and cannot determine the degree of strain without making assumptions about the material properties, including stiffness, of the tissue. UW-Madison researchers ...
Reconstruction Method for Increasing Image Resolution of Computed Tomography Systems
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Computed tomography (CT) systems are medical imaging devices that use X-rays to image a patient internally. An X-ray source sends parallel beams through the patient. The X-ray absorption/scattering, or attenuation, is measured by a detector array on the other side. The source and detector rotate around the patient to collect attenuation measurements. The data from one angle is called a “view” and a complete set of views or multiple angles is called a “scan.” The preferred method for ...
Real-Time Phase Error Correction for Off-Axis MRI Systems to Improve Efficiency and Image Quality
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a diagnostic imaging technique that is especially effective for soft tissues such as the brain or other organs. To produce an MR image the patient is subjected to a polarizing magnetic field, B0, causing the protons of water molecules in tissues to align with the field. An excitation field, B1, then is applied perpendicular to B0 via radio frequency (RF) antenna or coils, which induce a slight excitation in the protons magnetic moment, or spin, as energy is absorbed. When the excitation ...
Image Reconstruction Method for Cardiac Gated Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique that takes measurements, or “views,” of a subject’s nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to form images of internal structures. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the same magnetic resonance phenomenon to produce images of the human vasculature and heart. MRA images can be enhanced by a contrast agent, but this method needs to be timed precisely to capture images during the short time when the agent is entering the vasculature. When imaging ...
Image Reconstruction Method for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique that takes measurements, or “views,” of a subject’s nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to form images of internal structures. Functional MRI (fMRI) is used to image changes in cerebral blood volume, flow and oxygenation induced by the brain performing certain tasks. To see the changes in brain activity that are induced by performing certain tasks, a series of fMRI images need to be obtained at a high rate. To add to this challenge, since ...
Diffusion Tensor Imaging Using Highly Constrained Image Reconstruction Method
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique that takes measurements, or “views,” of a subject’s nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to form images of internal structures. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) utilizes the same technique to image axonal fiber bundles in nerve tissue that typically connect areas of high neural density in places such as the brain. Magnetic fields are applied in a diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) pulse sequence to image the diffusion of water or other ...
Improved Portal Imaging During Radiation Therapy Using a Modulated Treatment Beam
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Before, after, and during radiation therapy, images of the patient are generated to ensure that radiation is delivered to the tumor site’s precise location. Instruments known as portal imaging devices make use of high-energy treatment radiation exiting the patient to produce X-ray images of the patient’s anatomy. The problem with this approach is that Compton interaction of high-energy X-rays reduces image contrast and creates a fog over the image. Thus, high-energy X-rays give much poorer image quality than the low-energy ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Diagnosis of lung disease, such as emphysema, typically is made using whole lung pulmonary function tests to characterize airway obstruction and diffusion abnormalities. Breath-hold high speed X-ray computed tomography (CT) commonly is used to image lung tissue. However, when using CT scans, it is difficult to differentiate between particular disease-induced conditions, and repeated imaging is restricted because of risks associated with exposure to ionizing radiation. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI) is another ...
Real Time 3-D Tracking and Imaging System and Method for MR Guided Endovascular Intervention Therapy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance (MR) has been utilized largely for medical diagnostic applications, but recent advancements have allowed it to replace many previously performed X-ray examinations. Even more recently, advances have started to permit the use of MR for monitoring and control of therapeutic endovascular interventions. Endovascular therapy is a minimally invasive surgical technique that uses a medical device such as a catheter in the vascular system to access and treat a range of diseases such as vascular disease and tumors. Using ...
Arm Brace for Sonographers to Reduce Wrist Injuries
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
As use of real-time diagnostic ultrasound scanning has increased, work-related injury has become epidemic among medical sonographers and echocardiographers. Approximately 80 percent of sonographers report some type of musculoskeletal ailment of the hand and wrist, and career-ending injuries due to the daily stresses of sonography affect roughly 20 percent of the workforce. During an ultrasound imaging procedure, sonographers are required to grasp the ultrasonic transducer (probe) tightly with their fingers, and then exert considerable force ...
Removal of Chemical Shift Artifacts in Magnetic Resonance Images with Alternating Readout Gradients
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technology is used to measure nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) from various substances in human tissue to produce medical images for qualitative and quantitative assessments. These various substances in human tissue emit NMR when a magnetic field is applied at the substance’s Larmor frequency. Water is the most important substance in human tissue for NMR detection and imaging due to its abundance and specific properties. Fat also emits NMR, but at a different Larmor frequency than ...
Tailored Radiopharmaceutical Dosimetry for 4-D Treatment Planning System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Radiopharmaceuticals are radioactive materials that “target” specific tissues to allow imaging or treatment. During radiation therapy, the radiopharmaceutical must be administered to provide a radiation dose to the tissue sufficient to kill tumor cells while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues. The measurement of the exposure of the tissue to the radiation is called dosimetry, which is related to the biokinetics of the radioisotope in tumor tissue and healthy organs. Selecting the appropriate quantity and timing for ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The catabolic state refers to the condition where the body uses stores of carbohydrates, amino acids or fats as a source of energy for maintenance. The catabolic state may be induced by infection, disease, external pathogens, toxic chemical exposure, malnutrition or other causes. Early detection of the onset of the catabolic state as an indicator of serious disease has broad applications in human and veterinary health. In sepsis alone, the mortality rate can be cut in half through earlier detection and intervention. A noninvasive, nondoping, ...
Image Reconstruction Method for Motion Encoded Magnetic Resonance Images
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique that takes measurements, or “views,” of a subject’s nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to form images of internal structures. The phase contrast (PC) MRI technique can image and provide quantitative measurements of blood flow by encoding motion into the phase of the acquired MR signal. This technique can be an extremely lengthy process because four to six fully sampled images are required. MR data is sampled with a series of interleaved ...
Improved Method and Apparatus for Monitoring Tissue Ablation in Minimally Invasive Tumor Treatment
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elastography is a medical procedure analogous to conventional palpation. It is commonly used to detect tumors and other abnormalities that cause changes in local tissue stiffness. Quasi-static elastography involves analysis of pre- and post-deformation tissue images taken by CT scan, MRI or ultrasound to map stiffness measurements. Dynamic elastography is another method in which vibration is applied to a tissue and the properties of the resulting shear waves are used to deduce quantitative local tissue stiffness ...
Hydrogel Drug Delivery Device as an Alternative to Pressurized Gas or Voltage Transdermal Technology
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Oral ingestion of pharmaceuticals is considered the safest, most convenient and most economical method of drug administration. However, many therapeutic drugs cannot be delivered orally because they are too large or too electrically charged to pass through the small intestine to reach the bloodstream. As a result, many pharmaceuticals must be injected into a patient. Transdermal drug delivery patches offer an alternative. These patches, which incorporate a medicine, adhere to the skin. Molecules of the medicine then ...
Radio Frequency (RF) Coil for an Improved MRI System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
MRI systems have played a major part in safely imaging and diagnosing various bodily ailments. When human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field from a large magnet, it will vibrate at what is called its characteristic Larmor frequency as a result of its polarity. If another magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the first using an RF coil and then resonated at that same Larmor frequency using capacitors, a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) signal is emitted and measured by the same RF coil. The NMR then may be ...
Integrated, Miniaturized Fiber Optic Probe for Light-Based Diagnostics
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Light-based diagnostics are used to create images of human tissue to detect the development of diseases like cancer. The popularity of light-based diagnostics is growing due to their non-intrusive nature and potentially rapid implementation with existing techniques. One major absorber of light in tissue is hemoglobin, which shows distinctive absorbance characteristics depending on its concentration and oxygenation. Light scattering in tissue is sensitive to the size, density and refractive indices of cellular structures such as nuclei ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
A fracture requiring orthopedic treatment occurs approximately every 14 seconds in the United States. Musculoskeletal conditions cost an estimated $254 billion each year in the United States, and bone and joint diseases account for half of all chronic conditions in adults over the age of 50. New treatments for this growing problem are needed. Regenerating natural bone tissue is a promising approach to bone replacement. Emerging methods for tissue regeneration have focused on delivering growth factors to the site of the ...
Biologically Active Sutures Enhance Tissue Healing Following Surgical Procedures
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Musculoskeletal conditions cost an estimated $254 billion each year in the United States, and bone and joint diseases account for half of all chronic conditions in adults over the age of 50. Bone-tendon healing presents a particularly challenging problem that must be addressed in orthopedic procedures such as cruciate ligament reconstruction or repair of the rotator cuff, patellar tendon or avulsion injury. Recovery time can be six months or more, and scar formation, rather than the desired bone-tendon healing, occurs ...
Modular Peptide Binds to Biomaterials and Promotes New Bone Formation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Musculoskeletal conditions cost an estimated $254 billion each year in the United States, and bone and joint diseases account for half of all chronic conditions in adults over the age of 50. Current clinical bone replacement strategies use synthetic materials to bridge gaps in bone tissue. Hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings have been shown to enhance bone bonding to implant materials. However, these coatings typically are unable to actively induce new bone formation. Emerging approaches for bone repair and replacement therapies have ...
Improved System for Stroke Therapy and Rehabilitation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Each year approximately 780,000 Americans experience a new or recurrent stroke. Approximately 85 percent of these patients survive and require rehabilitation, making stroke the leading cause of long-term disability in the U.S. The most common treatment for stroke is physical rehabilitation. Passive movement repetition from the afflicted limb can enable recovery of lost function. However, physical therapists can reasonably provide only a limited number of repetitions during a session, and also are limited in the number of ...
Cardiac Image Reconstruction with Improved Temporal Resolution
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Visualizing a patient’s heart by non-invasive cardiovascular imaging is a powerful tool for diagnosis and therapy. Yet the heart’s movement and small branching arteries make quality cardiac imaging a challenge. Radiation exposure during nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and X-ray computed tomography (CT) is concerning. Moreover, even cutting-edge imaging systems like multidetector CT (MDCT) can’t achieve the mechanical speeds needed to assess valve and wall motion abnormalities. Heartbeat-slowing beta blockers often must be given to ...
Improved Method of Fluorescence Spectroscopy using Monte Carlo Simulation for Medical Diagnostics
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The early detection of disease or malignancy can greatly increase the probability of full recovery, especially in the case of cancers. Optical diagnostic techniques, such as diffuse reflectance and fluorescence spectroscopy, are emerging technologies in the field of medical diagnostics that can provide early detection of disease and other abnormalities in tissues. Recent advancements in optical technologies and the abundance of tissue specific optical property data are quickly accelerating the development of bio-optical devices ...
Improved MRI with Radio Frequency Coil Decoupling Circuit to Enhance Image Quality
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a diagnostic imaging technique that is especially effective for soft tissues such as the brain and other organs. To produce an MR image the patient is subjected to a polarizing magnetic field, B0, causing the protons of water molecules in tissues to align with the field. An excitation field, B1, then is applied perpendicular to B0 via radio frequency (RF) antenna or coils, which induce a slight excitation in the protons magnetic moment, or spin, as energy is absorbed. When the excitation ...
Image Reconstruction System and Method to Reduce Artifacts from 3-D Cone-Beam CT Systems
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Conventional CT scans utilize a fan-shaped X-ray beam source and a detector array to acquire data for 2-D medical imaging. The source and detector array are situated on opposite sides of the patient and rotated to acquire data from multiple angles. 3-D CT imaging systems utilize a cone-shaped X-ray beam source and have a single scan path of either a circle or arc. The biggest disadvantage with the single scan path is that data often are missing. These incomplete data sets result in images with artifacts, or image ...
Synthesis of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast Agents Using Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful diagnostic method in which three-dimensional images of body tissues are obtained. Contrast agents are administered prior to imaging to enhance specific features of an image, improving the sensitivity and utility of MRI. Hydroxypyridonate (HOPO)-based gadolinium ion chelates are more effective at enhancing contrast in MRI images than other contrast agents. UW-Madison researchers have developed sensitive and versatile polymer-based contrast agents for MRI. The contrast agents were synthesized ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Collagen, the most abundant protein in vertebrates, provides structure for tissues and plays a key role in wound healing. In connective tissue, individual collagen molecules are wound together in tight triple helices that are further organized into strong fibrils. The collagen polypeptide chains are composed of approximately 300 repeats of the sequence Xaa-Yaa-Gly, where Xaa is often proline (Pro), Yaa is often hydroxyproline (Hyp) and the third residue is always glycine (Gly). Stereoelectronic effects cause the rings in the Xaa and Yaa ...
Drug-Free Method and Device for Promoting Restorative Sleep
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 50 million people in the United States have difficulty obtaining sufficient, restful sleep. Physicians, emergency and military personnel have only small blocks of time available for sleep. Many of these individuals use prescription sleep aids; however, sleeping pills are generally ineffective at promoting the most restorative, restful stages of sleep and still require an individual to sleep for approximately eight of every 24 hours, which may not always be possible for these ...
Characterization of Receiver Demodulation for Correcting Off-Axis MR Imaging Degradation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Non-Cartesian imaging in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), often accomplished by radial or spiral data acquisition, permits significant acceleration of the MRI process. However, non-Cartesian imaging is more sensitive to system instabilities like hardware delays. Because the gradient amplitude during acquisition in non-Cartesian imaging changes over time, when the anatomy of interest is not located at the magnet center, real-time demodulation of the received signal to center images is more complicated than in Cartesian imaging. ...
Imaging Spectrometer for Early Detection of Skin Cancer
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Skin cancer detection is typically identified via standard visual inspection. Skin patches with asymmetrical outlines, irregular borders, mottled color or a diameter greater than six millimeters are all early indicators of possible cancerous areas. However, some skin cancers cannot be detected by visual inspection because they appear in light frequency bands other than the three bands visible to the human eye. For this reason, spectral information can be collected and analyzed to improve the early detection of skin cancer. Currently, two ...
Image Reconstruction Method for Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Cardiac Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique that takes measurements, or “views,” of a subject’s nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to form images of internal structures. Computed tomography (CT) is another medical imaging technique that measures the attenuation of an X-ray beam’s signal to form images. Images are reconstructed from the projection views by backprojecting the processed data to the signal receivers to reconstruct the image. High quality images require a long scan time, ...
miRNAs Provide Cancer Biomarkers and Diagnostic Information
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are naturally occurring, short RNA molecules that target specific mRNAs for destruction. They provide a means of turning down the expression of particular genes. miRNAs regulate genes associated with development, differentiation, proliferation, programmed cell death and stress response. In addition, miRNAs likely affect the development of many cancers. Identifying the miRNAs involved in specific cancers could provide useful diagnostic information as well as potential treatment targets. ...
An Orthopedic Implant Coating for Enhanced Bone Growth
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
"Orthobiologics" provides an improved method of treating fractures and other bone defects. This therapy employs inductive molecules, such as bone morphogenetic protein-2 or bone morphogenetic protein-4, to stimulate natural bone growth in defects. The proteins are embedded or adsorbed within collagen sponges, porous ceramic blocks or synthetic polymers and then delivered to the defects. However, clinical use of orthobiologics technology has been problematic. Carrier materials currently used, such as collagen sponges, to deliver bone growth ...
Novel Splice Variants of PIPKIgamma Provide Biomarkers for Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Prognosis
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 185,000 women in the U.S. were diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 died as a result of the disease in 2005. It is difficult to predict how the disease will progress in a given patient. Identifying individuals with poor prognosis may enable more informed treatment decisions, but few markers of breast cancer progression are available. Type I phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinases (PIPKIs) may provide additional cancer biomarkers. In mammals, ...
Method and Apparatus for Motion Estimation within Biological Tissue
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ultrasonic elastography is a new ultrasound imaging technique that detects and images the stiffness properties, or strain, of tissues under compression. Elastography commonly acquires one set of images before a deforming force is applied to a tissue and a second set after tissue deformation. To produce the final strain image, an analysis identifies corresponding points in the pre- and post-compression image data sets and calculates the amount of displacement between them. However, the segment of tissue being analyzed may move from its ...
Rapid, Precise Ultrasonic Elasticity Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ultrasonic elastography is an ultrasound imaging technique that detects and creates images of the stiffness properties, or strain, of tissues under compression. This method can reveal disease properties not detected by conventional ultrasound. Because estimating strain involves measuring movement, the region of interest (ROI) of a patient’s body is scanned at least twice. Although many strain imaging techniques track motion in only one direction, tracking motion in all directions allows a larger range of motion to be tracked, ...
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Diffusion Weighted Preparatory Sequence to Remove Patient Motion Effects
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to measure nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) from various substances in human tissue to produce medical images for qualitative and quantitative assessments. These various substances in human tissue emit NMR by when a magnetic field is applied at a frequency specific to that substance. Depending on the area of interest, different techniques are used to measure and image the NMR from different substances. Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (DWI) is a useful MRI technique for the probing of ...
Fluoropolymer-Based Emulsions for the Intravenous Delivery of Fluorinated Volatile Anesthetics
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Intravenous fluorinated volatile anesthetics offer significant advantages over their inhalation hydrocarbon counterparts. When drugs are delivered by inhalation, there is an inherent delay in onset as the drug travels from the anesthetic vaporizer to the lungs and then to the blood. Intravenous delivery would eliminate this delay and allow rapid changes in the level of anesthesia. For example, the level of anesthesia must be deepened when a surgical incision is made. Currently, the anesthesiologist anticipates the timing and increases the ...
Nanoscale and Microscale Wireless Stimulating Probes Precisely Deliver Electrical Current to Cells
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Studying how neurons and other cells work may require stimulating individual or small clusters of cells. The cells conventionally are stimulated through the use of fine electrodes inserted into or near the cells and connected by leads to external equipment. However, such electrode systems are not practical for long-term placement in living organisms. The cells must be stabilized using potentially intrusive systems, and interference between the support structures for adjacent electrodes prevents close electrode spacing and the ...
Voltage Standing Wave Suppression Safety Improvement for MR-Guided Therapeutic Interventions
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Recent advances have started to permit the use of magnetic resonance (MR), instead of the more common X-ray technique, for medical monitoring and control of certain therapeutic procedures, otherwise known as interventional MR. One such interventional MR technique is endovascular therapy, a minimally invasive surgical technique that uses the vascular system to access and treat a range of diseases such as vascular disease and tumors. One problem with the medical devices, often catheters, used in the vascular system is a conductance phenomenon ...
More Accurate Methods for Detecting and Quantifying Fat from Magnetic Resonance Images
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Quantifying the amount of fat in the liver is crucial for the detection of non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases including steatosis, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver failure. Accurate fat measurements can lead to early treatment and prevention of liver diseases. Currently, the best method for the measurement of liver fat is a biopsy, in which bits of the liver are surgically removed and analyzed. MRI techniques have been developed to image fat, but currently are only useful for fat detection. Because these techniques ...
Stem Cell Marker for Breast Cancer
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In patients who develop breast cancer, malignant tumors frequently begin in somatic mammary stem cells. In addition, breast tumors have a stem cell component that propagates the tumor, which may explain why some tumors recur after initially effective treatment. In order for these tumors to be successfully contained or eradicated, the cancer stem cell population needs to be targeted, a process made difficult by the lack of cell surface markers for mammary tumor stem cells. UW-Madison researchers have discovered that the low density ...
Using Endogenous Fluorescence to Identify Cancerous Cells
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Optical imaging techniques play a pivotal role in detecting disease, injury and other disorders at an early stage and monitoring progression or remission after treatment. Images are generated by detecting a source of energy that can be a combination of electromagnetic radiation, nuclear radiation, acoustic waves, electrical fields or magnetic fields. Unfortunately, because tissue becomes opaque at frequencies in the visual or ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, the usefulness of some imaging methods is limited. Advanced ...
Injection Molding of Biodegradable Tissue Engineering Scaffolds
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Biodegradable scaffolds with highly interconnected pores are potentially useful in tissue engineering. A rigid, highly porous platform could be used to guide growth in tissues such as bone, cartilage and nerves. This platform would gradually be absorbed into the body as natural tissue replaces it. Such scaffolds could also serve as implantable drug delivery vessels. However, current means of producing these structures use organic solvents, which could render them unusable, or are not amenable to mass production. One option is injection ...
Radiation Therapy Modulation by Virtual Analysis to Improve Cancer Treatment in Moving Tissues
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Radiation therapy is a technique used to deliver ionizing radiation to a malignant tumor or other target tissue to control the growth of abnormal cells. If a critical structure such as a tissue sensitive to radiation is near the target tissue, the radiation beams may be configured to avoid the critical structure by changing the angle and intensity of individual beamlets. Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a mature technique for configuring beams by using a modulation device, such as a multileaf collimator, to direct ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems apply a magnetic field to excite the proton nuclei in human tissue, which then emit a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal. This signal is received by the MRI system, processed and reconstructed into an image using one of many techniques. MRI technology can be used to assess the viability of tissue for the diagnosis of diseases such as emphysema in the lungs. One method utilizes hyperpolarized gases, which are noble gases that have been put in a hyperpolarized state, as contrast ...
Bioactive and Biocompatible Copolymers for Use in Medical Implants
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Many human diseases and conditions can be treated by implanting devices within the body. However, these devices may be rejected by the body’s immune system or “fouled” by the accumulation of bacteria, cells and proteins. Moreover, few materials exist that can be used in blood-contacting devices or applications. Polyurethane copolymers have been widely used for biomedical applications, including implantable devices, because they have excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility. However, the use of polyurethanes in ...
Automated Software System for Optimal Beam Setup in Radiation Cancer Therapy Systems
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Radiation therapists must carefully determine beam angles and radiation dose to accurately target tumors while avoiding healthy tissue. Of special importance are nearby organs-at-risk, which often are affected by particular radiation treatments. Currently, beam optimization relies on an estimate by an expert in the field to select an appropriate beam configuration. Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is a technique that uses highly precise external beams to optimize the radiation distribution to reduce exposure to ...
Scanning Aperture Ion Beam Range Compensator and Intensity Modulator for External Radiation Therapy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
External beam radiation therapy is a tumor treatment technique that directs one or more high-energy radiation beams to the tumor. Advanced external beam radiation systems treat tumors with multiple x-ray fan beams that can be rotated around the patient. Each beam consists of individual “beamlets” whose intensity can be controlled to allow for the treatment of complex tumor shapes. However, x-ray energy still is deposited to all tissue along the entire path of the beam up to the exit point. An alternate beam ...
Distal Gradient Tracking (DGT) for Ion Beam Radiation Therapy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
External beam radiation therapy is a tumor treatment technique that directs one or more high-energy radiation beams to the tumor. Advanced external beam radiation systems treat tumors with multiple x-ray fan beams that can be rotated around the patient. Each beam consists of individual "beamlets" whose intensity can be controlled to allow for the treatment of complex tumor shapes. However, x-ray energy still is deposited to all tissue along the entire path of the beam up to the exit point. An alternate beam radiation therapy technique ...
Quadrupole Magnetic Fan Beam Former for Ion Radiation Therapy Systems
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
External beam radiation therapy is a tumor treatment technique that directs one or more high-energy radiation beams to the tumor. Advanced external beam radiation systems treat tumors with multiple x-ray fan beams that can be rotated around the patient. Each beam consists of individual "beamlets" whose intensity can be controlled to allow for the treatment of complex tumor shapes. However, x-ray energy still is deposited to all tissue along the entire path of the beam up to the exit point. The dose intensity from protons is not uniform along ...
Multi-Element Ion Beam Range and Intensity Modulator for Radiation Therapy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
External beam radiation therapy is a tumor treatment technique that directs one or more high-energy radiation beams to the tumor. External beam radiation systems treat tumors with multiple x-ray fan beams that can be rotated around the patient. Each beam consists of individual “beamlets” whose intensity can be controlled to allow for the treatment of complex tumor shapes. An alternate beam radiation therapy technique involves the use of ions, such as protons, to treat tumors. This technique dramatically ...
Ion Fan Beam Radiation Therapy System with Partial Arc Motion
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
External beam radiation therapy is a tumor treatment technique that directs one or more high-energy radiation beams to the tumor. External beam radiation systems treat tumors with multiple x-ray fan beams that can be rotated around the patient. Each beam consists of individual “beamlets” that can be controlled to treat complex tumor shapes. An alternate beam radiation therapy technique involves the use of ions such as protons to treat tumors. This technique dramatically reduces the radiation dose to healthy ...
Improved Proton-Based Cancer Radiation Therapy System with Beam Intensity and Energy Modulation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
External beam radiation therapy commonly is used to treat cancer patients by directing one or more beams of high energy radiation, such as X-rays, toward a tumor. Current photon-based radiation therapy methods use multiple X-ray fan beams directed at the patient over a 360° range with each beam’s intensity individually modulated. These existing techniques are able to define complex treatment areas to minimize radiation applied to healthy tissue. However, X-rays irradiate healthy cells along the entire path to the ...
Multi-Beamlet Resolution Proton Therapy (MBRPT) for Ion Beam Treatment of Tumors
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
External beam radiation therapy is a tumor treatment technique that directs one or more high-energy radiation beams to the tumor. External beam radiation systems treat tumors with multiple x-ray fan beams that can be rotated around the patient. Each beam consists of individual “beamlets” that can be controlled to treat complex tumor shapes. An alternate beam radiation therapy technique involves the use of ions, such as protons, to treat tumors. This technique dramatically reduces the radiation dose to ...
Probabilistic Least Squares Optimization for Radiation Therapy to Remove Patient Motion Effects
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
External beam radiation therapy is a tumor treatment technique that directs one of more high-energy radiation beams to the tumor. External beam radiation systems treat tumors with multiple x-ray fan beams that can be rotated around the patient. Each beam consists of individual “beamlets” that can be controlled to treat complex tumor shapes. An alternate beam radiation therapy technique involves the use of ions such as protons to treat tumors. This technique dramatically reduces the radiation dose to healthy ...
Improved Wound Healing Using Patterned Gradients of Immobilized Biomolecules
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
More than five million people in the United States are afflicted with chronic skin wounds, resulting in billions of dollars in medical expenses each year. The incidence of chronic wounds is expected to increase, due to the growth in the elderly population and the number of people with diabetes. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a key molecule in the wound healing process. It directs epithelial cells to migrate to the wound and proliferate, a process necessary for wound closure. To speed healing of chronic or acute wounds, topical gels ...
Fan-Beam Microwave Horn for Improved Organ Resection
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world and is frequently fatal. Surgical resection currently is the preferred treatment for liver cancer. During the time-consuming treatment, a surgeon cuts through tissue to remove a lobe of the liver while attempting to avoid or close large blood vessels. Blood loss during this procedure can adversely affect patient survival and increase hospital stay and complication rate. Radio frequency (RF) or microwave (MW) ablation coagulates tissue before resection by inserting an ...
Intra-Ventricular Electrode Enhances Deep Brain and Cortical Stimulation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Electrical stimulation of the brain is useful in the treatment of conditions such as epilepsy, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. Extradural stimulation of the motor cortex (EMCS) has proven effective in treating some cases of Parkinson’s disease and may become an important treatment for movement disorders. Because both electrodes are located outside the dura mater, EMCS is less invasive—but also less consistent—than other techniques for stimulating the motor cortex, in part because the emitted current can only ...
Optimizing Ultrasonic Elasticity Imaging with Selectable Inputs
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Breast cancer is the second most common diagnosed cancer in women. Currently in the U.S., 2.4 million women have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. The most common method of detecting breast cancer is palpation, in which a physician feels the difference in elasticity of the healthy and cancerous tissues. In addition, ultrasound machines can perform elasticity imaging to characterize tissue. In common ultrasonic elasticity imaging, pre- and post-deformation images are taken and compared to analyze the local ...
A Flow Control Device for the Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Cerebral aneurysms develop when the wall of a cerebral artery becomes weakened and the blood vessel balloons. Intracranial aneurysms are estimated to affect between three and six percent of the adult population in the United States. Each year 30,000 to 50,000 aneurysms rupture in the United States, killing 50 percent of the individuals who experience these ruptures and leaving another 25 percent with severe neurological injury. Treatment procedures are aimed at occluding an aneurysm from blood flow to prevent subsequent growth and rupture. ...
Improved Highly Constrained Image Reconstruction (HYPR) Method
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The HYPR method, as described in WARF reference number P06088US, reconstructs a composite image from acquired data to provide a priori knowledge of the subject being imaged. This composite image then is used to constrain and improve the image reconstruction process. HYPR can be used with a variety of imaging modalities. Regardless of which HYPR processing method is used, subject motion is an issue when the composite image is formed by integrating acquired images within a time window. If the window is set wide to integrate more image frames ...
An Improved Stent for the Treatment of Hydrocephalus Offering Lower Failure Rates and Fewer Risks
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
An estimated 70,000 patients a year are discharged from hospitals in the United States with the diagnosis of hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is caused by injury or trauma to the brain and can sometimes be present at birth. When left untreated, CSF accumulates and can result in lethal internal pressure. The main treatment for hydrocephalus has been the surgical insertion of a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt, a tube to drain CSF from the brain into the abdomen, where it is reabsorbed. However, shunts have a failure rate of 60-70 percent over ...
Treatment Planning Algorithm for Implanting Radioactive Seeds During Brachytherapy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Brachytherapy is a radiation therapy that places the source of irradiation, called a “seed,” into the tumor (interstitial brachytherapy) or inside a body cavity (intracavitary brachytherapy). Brachytherapy can be an effective alternative to surgical removal of a tumor for the treatment of breast, cervical, lung, prostate, rectal, tongue and uterine cancers. Precise planning is necessary when performing brachytherapy and various optimization methods exist for the placement of multiple seeds. Determining the radiation dose ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Computed Tomography (CT) is used as a diagnostic imaging modality to generate three-dimensional images of the inside of an object. When a metallic object, such as a surgical clip, is present in a subject being imaged, artifacts generally will appear in the reconstructed image in the form of dark and light streaks emanating from the metal object. These artifacts degrade the overall quality of the image and can confound clinical diagnoses. Current methods to reduce streak artifacts are of limited effectiveness, as the ...
Rapid Multi-Dimensional Strain Imaging for Ultrasound Detection of Breast Cancer and Other Diseases
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elastography is an imaging technique that uses ultrasound to assess tissue stiffness by comparing the displacement of the tissue under deformation. When tissue is compressed, stiffer tissue will displace or deform less than more flexible tissue. Stiffness properties of the imaged tissue then can be used to detect breast cancer or other pathological changes that alter tissue stiffness. To assess stiffness, images of the tissue before and after it is compressed are obtained using ultrasound. Then portions of the images are ...
Highly Constrained Image Reconstruction (HYPR) for Ultrasound Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The HYPR method, as described in WARF reference number P06088US, reconstructs a composite image from acquired data to provide a priori knowledge of the subject being imaged. This composite image then is used to constrain and improve the image reconstruction process. HYPR can be used with a variety of imaging modalities. In ultrasound imaging, the “backscatter” method produces images by transmitting sound into an object, and then collecting the “echo” of the sound as it bounces back to a receiver on the same side of ...
Combined Keyboard and System for Improved Accessibility to Electronics
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Modern public information and transaction machines such as kiosks and automated teller machines (ATMs) frequently employ a touch screen in conjunction with a computer to provide multimedia capabilities intended to help members of the public obtain information or conduct transactions. Despite the advantage of touch screens in such applications, they present a barrier to many people with disabilities. Those with impaired vision may be unable to distinguish the features and virtual “buttons” on the screen. Those unfamiliar with the ...
Image Reconstruction Method for High Temporal Resolution Image Guided Radiaton Therapy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Computed tomography (CT) systems are used for medical imaging and produce images by measuring the loss in an X-ray beam’s strength. These measurements are used to reconstruct an image in 2-D or 3-D based on the data collection technique. CT systems often are combined with radiation therapy. This therapy is a treatment technique that delivers radiation to a specific point in the body, such as a tumor, while maintaining a low radiation dose to the surrounding healthy tissue. Intensity modulation radiation therapy ...
Improved Quantitative Testing Method and Handheld Device to Assist in Neuropathic Pain Diagnosis
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Neuropathic pain is characterized by chronic pain in an area of abnormal somatic sensory functions. This type of disabling, degenerative pain usually is caused by damaged or dysfunctional nerve fibers. Symptoms in an affected region include positive sensory phenomena, such as spontaneous shooting or burning pain; negative sensory phenomena, such as loss of sensation; and paresthesiae, such as tingling. Though it is paradoxical to define pain as both hyper- and hypo-tactile function and therefore sensitivity, it is the ...
Prior Image Constrained Compressed Sensing (PICCS)
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In a computed tomography (CT) system, an X-ray source projects a fan-shaped beam, which passes through the object being imaged and hits an array of radiation detectors. The source and detector array are rotated on a gantry and measure a series of views made at different angular orientations during gantry’s revolution. The most common method for reconstructing CT images from 2-D data is the filtered backprojection technique. However, in a typical filtered backprojection image reconstruction, anywhere from 400 to 1000 views are required ...
High Temporal Resolution Cardiac CT Imaging with Slowed Gantry Speed
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In a computed tomography (CT) system, an X-ray source projects a fan-shaped beam, which passes through the object being imaged and hits an array of radiation detectors. The source and detector array are rotated on a gantry and measure a series of views made at different angular orientations during gantry’s revolution. The X-ray dose administered during a CT scan is an issue due to the increased radiation patients can be exposed to, especially when undergoing routine CT scans. A high resolution and artifact-free image requires many views ...
Shoelace Tying Device That Enables an Individual to Tightly Tie Shoes with One Hand
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Hand function can be lost or limited as a result of injury, amputation, stroke, arthritis or a birth defect. Individuals with limited hand dexterity often are unable to tie shoes tightly, limiting their independence and footwear options. For example, most sports require tightly laced shoes to provide the necessary foot, ankle and arch support. Shoes with Velcro strips provide an alternative but generally are not suitable for formal or business attire. UW-Madison researchers have developed a lightweight and portable device ...
Real-Time Progressive Medical Image Reconstruction Method for Time-Resolved Data
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Computed tomography (CT) systems are used for medical imaging and produce images by measuring the loss in an X-ray beam’s strength. These measurements are used to reconstruct an image in 2-D or 3-D, based on the data collection technique. Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) is a technique that employs CT imaging systems simultaneously with the radiation therapy to improve radiation accuracy and reduce the dose delivered to surrounding healthy tissue. The inventors previously developed an image reconstruction method that ...
Computational Algorithms for Identifying, Suppressing and Reversing Epilepsy
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Epileptogenesis, or the occurrence of spontaneous seizures, is considered to be a learned response due to brain plasticity. The development of the condition requires circuits in the brain to possess three conditions: (1) neuronal hyperexcitability, (2) overconnectivity in space and (3) overconnectivity in time. Current techniques using electrical stimulation for the treatment of epilepsy target only neuronal hyperexcitability, but do not consider other patterns of neural activity. It also is unclear why any of these methods ...
Post-Processing MRI Fat Suppression Method to Enhance Image Quality and Improve Medical Diagnostics
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a diagnostic imaging technique that is especially effective for soft tissues such as the brain and other organs. To produce an MR image, the patient is subjected to a polarizing magnetic field, B0, causing the magnetic moment, or spin, of water molecule protons in tissues to align with the field. An excitation field, B1, then is applied perpendicular to B0 via radio frequency (RF) antenna or coils, which induce a slight excitation in the protons spin. When B1 is terminated, the excited ...
Non-Invasive Ultrasound of Cervical Tissue Predicts Preterm Delivery Risk & Labor Induction Success
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Preterm birth is a major world health problem that results in significant infant deaths and medical conditions at a cost of $26 billion annually in the U.S. alone. Preterm birth rates have increased in the past century due to the increased incidence of high risk pregnancies with a lack of effective therapies to treat these conditions. Unfortunately, neither drugs that calm inflammation and/or decrease uterine contractions nor cervical sutures prevent preterm births. The cause of preterm births appears to be the premature or ...
Improved Brain-Computer Interface Technology for Long-Term Cortical Stimulation or Recording
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology has the potential to create new treatments for severe motor impairment. Devices to acquire signals from the brain are essential components of BCI systems. For example, clinical cortical monitoring devices are used routinely for monitoring and mapping epilepsy activity. Recording and interpreting electrical signals from the cortex has been used for BCIs that can enhance communication for individuals with conditions such as spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Biomaterial scaffolds for tissue engineering perform three primary functions. They provide temporary support, provide a connected porosity to enhance tissue regeneration and guide the regenerated tissue into the correct anatomic shape. Creating biomaterial scaffolds that embody all the requirements is difficult because increasing the connected porosity decreases mechanical stiffness and strength, while decreasing connected porosity compromises cell migration and tissue regeneration. Recent advances in tissue engineering have ...
Method for Producing Enhanced Black Blood Angiogram Images
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is routinely used in advanced medical imaging techniques such as MRI. Most NMR scans require several minutes to acquire the necessary data to produce medical images; thus, reducing this time is important for increased patient throughput, improved patient comfort and better image quality. The fast-spin-echo pulse sequence is one available technique that allows faster scans to be performed. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses specialized NMR pulse sequences to produce images of arteries. A variation of ...
Cross-Sectional Tissue Textured Surfaces
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Several medical devices (e.g., catheters and pacemaker leads) are inserted into the body through the skin and left in place for extended periods. Infection occurs frequently because major cell types in the epidermis fail to differentiate, forming poor barriers to bacterial infiltration. In addition, a poor junction between the device and tissue can lead to scarring, abnormal cell growth and loss of the implant. A UW-Madison researcher has developed a medical device with an appropriate multi-layered surface that is critical for cell ...
Three-Dimensional Digital Subtraction Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the magnetic resonance (MR) phenomenon to produce images of the human vasculature, often in conjunction with a contrast agent that enhances the MR signal. MRA image quality is optimized when the required data are properly timed relative to the arrival of contrast in the arteries of interest. To ensure this, a time series of images must be acquired at a high rate during contrast agent injection. However, most current MR imaging (MRI) scans either produce a single image that is often difficult to time, ...
Digital Subtraction Magnetic Resonance Angiography with Image Artifact Suppression
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Various imaging technologies for human medical diagnostic studies exploit the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon. These, plus contrast agents injected into the patient, enhance the visualization of a body region and make real-time, dynamic studies possible. However, current magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) methods for imaging vasculature are time consuming and tend to distort data, interfering with proper diagnosis. UW-Madison researchers have developed a method of freeing an echo pulse-visualized data sequence from distortion, ...
Gated Time-Resolved Contrast-Enhanced 3-D MR Angiography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon to produce images of the human vasculature. Most NMR scans currently used to produce medical images require many minutes to acquire the necessary data, creating a major obstacle in performing clinical dynamic studies using MRI methods. Various methods have been developed to increase the temporal resolution of MRI scans; however, image contrast is sacrificed for these higher imaging rates. An improved method of faster MRA imaging is needed that does not ...
Ultrasound Phantom with Very Low Backscatter
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Imaging phantoms are test objects that can be used in scanners, like ultrasounds, for calibration, performance checks and operator training without exposing actual patients. Ideally, the materials which compose an ultrasound phantom should mimic three major characteristics of soft human tissue: speed of sound, ultrasonic absorption (attenuation) and scatter. Tissue-mimicking materials containing graphite powder commonly are utilized to control attenuation, but result in unpredictable levels of backscatter. To promote the best possible ...
Time-Resolved Contrast Enhanced MR Angiography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon to produce images of the human vasculature. Most NMR scans currently used to produce medical images require many minutes to acquire the necessary data, creating a major obstacle in performing clinical dynamic studies using MRI methods. Various methods have been developed to increase the temporal resolution of MRI scans; however, image contrast is sacrificed for these higher imaging rates. A method for improved MRA image quality that does not slow the ...
Magnetic Resonance Angiography Method Achieves Higher Image Quality
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon to produce images of the human vasculature. Most NMR scans currently used to produce medical images require many minutes to acquire the necessary data, creating a major obstacle in performing clinical dynamic studies using MR methods. Various methods have been developed to increase the temporal resolution of MRA scans; however, image contrast is sacrificed for these higher imaging rates. A method for improved MRA image quality that does not slow the ...
Improved Multiscale Feature Detection System
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Feature detection is a computational method of identifying image features from an image structure. Edge detection is used to establish the boundaries of an object so that it may be identified or measured. For example, an object may be scanned with a camera and the edges of the object may be detected and used to locate the object and determine its orientation. Most methods of feature detection use a filtering technique in an attempt to eliminate noise without obscuring the feature being detected. Current filtering effectiveness is determined ...
MR Signal-Emitting Coatings for Devices Used in Therapeutic MRI Applications
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Since its introduction, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used primarily in diagnostic applications; however, recent advances have permitted its use to expand to therapeutic procedures, such as monitoring of laser ablations and placement of biopsy needles. MRI holds particular promise in endovascular therapy, a class of minimally invasive techniques for treating vascular disease, in which a catheter is inserted into a blood vessel to deliver a therapeutic device or agent. MRI-guided endovascular therapy provides a number of ...
More Efficient, Accurate Radiation Treatment by Automatic Beam Characterization
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In therapy using high energy radiation, it is critical that the amount and placement of the dose be accurately controlled to insure that the tumor receives sufficient radiation to be destroyed and damage to healthy surrounding tissue is minimized. Angling rays to converge on a tumor site and inserting wedges or blocks to cut the intensity of radiation over nontarget areas are two techniques used to help achieve this balance. Block positioning can be checked by examining a ‘portal image’ of the radiation that exits a patient and is recorded ...
Tongue-Placed Tactile Output Device
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Tactile vision substitution systems (TVSS) deliver visual information to the brain through an array of electrodes in contact with the skin in areas of the body such as the abdomen or fingertip. Points of the visual image are mapped onto individual electrodes within the array as vibration or electrical stimulation. With training, subjects learn to interpret tactile images as visual information, i.e., they experience images in space, rather than on the skin. UW-Madison researchers have developed a tongue-placed tactile output device, ...
Reduced Signal Loss and Dropout in Magnetic Resonance Imaging by Rephasing Map
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
MRI is an essential clinical practice that processes and images signals to locate and size tumors of the brain, brain stem, pituitary and cranial nerve as well as detect other abnormalities and trauma. Yet susceptibility gradients arising near boundaries, such as between tissue and air, can cause a reduction or total loss of signal intensity in image pixels located near such boundaries. Present methods to recover signal void in MR images due to these inhomogeneities have to be pursued manually. An automatic process is needed to improve MR ...
Producing Medical Toxins by Transferring Genes Between Clostridium Strains
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Bacteria of the genus Clostridium produce more protein toxins than any other, and include many species responsible for suffering and death. Tetanus, gas gangrene, food poisoning and gastroenteritis are instigated by this group, as is botulism—caused by a clostridium neurotoxin that in its most dangerous form ranks amongst the world’s most poisonous natural substances. The extraordinary potency of botulinum toxins also has made them pharmaceutically invaluable for the treatment of movement disorders, spasticity, pain syndromes and other ...
Contrast Detection and Guided Reconstruction in Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the magnetic resonance (MR) phenomenon to produce images of the human vasculature, often in conjunction with a contrast agent that enhances the MR signal. The most valuable diagnostic MRA image depicts the exact moment when the bolus of contrast agent is flowing through the vessel of interest. To more precisely capture this optimum, Dr. Mistretta and others previously developed a technique for increasing the temporal resolution of image acquisition during MRA while maintaining excellent image ...
Spectral Enhancement of Acoustic Signals to Provide Improved Recognition of Speech
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Individuals with normal hearing are able to recover speech information even when spatial and temporal overlaps of adjacent speech activities occur. During signal amplification for the hearing-impaired, critical information for recovering speech information is lost, making it extremely difficult for hearing-impaired individuals to extract speech information accurately. UW-Madison researchers have developed a method for enhancing an auditory signal. The process enhances spectral differences between sounds, minimizing loss of information ...
Rapid Acquisition Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Radial Projections
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Rapid capture of high-resolution images is critical in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), especially when an image must be timed to a short-lived event, such as passage of a contrast agent. In conventional Cartesian MRI data acquisition, image resolution is sacrificed in order to attain faster imaging rates. UW-Madison resesarchers have developed a method of achieving rapid capture of images without loss of resolution by applying projection reconstruction (PR) methods to MRI. PR data acquisition involves collecting k-space data as a series of ...
Quality Assurance Ultrasound Phantom
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Imaging phantoms employ materials that closely mimic the ultrasonic propagation characteristics of human tissue to test objects for use with ultrasound scanners. These phantoms may be used to carry out performance checks on ultrasound scanners or for training or testing student technologists in the operation and interpretation of ultrasound scanners and images. A particular scanner model may have superior performance in one characteristic but not in another; additionally, some scanner characteristics may change in terms of performance over ...
Tissue-Mimicking Material for MRI, CT and Ultrasound Imaging Phantoms
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In medical imaging, phantoms are nonliving objects that are scanned or imaged to test or calibrate an instrument and help in treatment planning. Ideal phantoms are composed of materials like gels and glycerol that exhibit the same properties relevant to a particular imaging method as actual human soft tissue. For ultrasound, such mimicking material should show the same ranges in speed and sound as tissue inside a real body, while computed tomography (CT) requires material that scans at the same CT number. More requirements need to be met ...
Plasma-Aided Treatment of Surfaces Against Bacterial and Biofilm Deposition
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Biological contamination (biofilm deposits) on the surfaces of certain equipment, medical devices and other materials can lead to a host of problems. Biological contamination on food processing surfaces can potentially contaminate foods. Also, the presence of biological contamination on medical devices, especially implants and prosthetics, can endanger a patient’s life.It is known that thin layers of cross-linked polymers like polysaccarides substantially reduce the accumulation of deposits, but until now, there was no durable method ...
Verifying Radiation and Dose by Post-Patient Monitor
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Radiation therapy destroys tumorous tissues with high energy beams. The amount of predetermined radiation, and its placement, must be accurately controlled to ensure that the tumor receives sufficient dosage while damage to surrounding tissue is minimized. To attain such precision in action, a radiation source equipped with open and close shutters can produce a beam composed of many individual rays, each with controllable intensity. The promise of improved accuracy of these systems and their increased complexity make desirable a means of ...
Two-Dimensional Phase Contrast Imaging Using Interleaved Projection Data
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) uses the magnetic resonance phenomenon to produce images of blood vessels. Two basic classes of non-contrast-enhanced MRA techniques have been evaluated: 1) time-of-flight (TOF) methods, which exploit the difference in MR signal saturation between flowing blood and stationary tissues; and 2) phase contrast (PC) methods, which encode the motion of flowing blood into the phase of the acquired signal. Although PC methods effectively cancel background and provide quantitative information on blood flow, they ...
Magnetic Resonance Angiography with Vessel Segmentation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is a special type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that generates images of blood flow through vessels. MRA has many medical applications, including the diagnosis of artery and veins abnormalities (e.g., aneurysms in the brain). To enhance the diagnostic capability of MRA, a contrast agent can be injected prior to the MRA scan. The trick with this technique is that image data must be acquired at the moment the contrast agent is flowing through the vessels of interest. Thus, images must be taken very ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Imaging phantoms comprise materials that closely mimic the ultrasonic propagation characteristics of human tissue. The tissue mimicking material typically is water based to best simulate human tissue. These phantoms allow for performance checks on ultrasound scanners and may be used by student technologists for training or testing. Current ultrasound phantoms utilize thin sheets of plastic to cover a scanning window to allow transmission of the ultrasound to the tissue mimicking material; however, the relatively high rate of water vapor ...
Improved Liquid and Solid Tissue Mimicking Material for Ultrasound Phantoms
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The use of media that adequately mimic human tissue allows researchers to accurately determine exposure parameters by direct experimentation. These experiments will aid in the effort to limit patient exposure to ultrasound. Currently, the thermal index and mechanical index (two indicators for biological damage) are determined by assuming that the sound pulses in water and tissue are linear. However, this does not take into consideration that most ultrasound systems emit nonlinear pulses. UW-Madison researchers have developed tissue-mimicking ...
Method And Apparatus For Producing An Electrical Property Image Using A Charge Correlation Matrix
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Conventional methods for detecting tumors such as x-ray tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound can produce an accurate picture in terms of spatial resolution. However, information about the character of various objects located in the interior of the sample is often limited. Techniques that measure the electrical properties of samples, specifically human tissues, are referred to as “impedance tomography” and can offer high resolution images of internal electrical properties. A researcher at UW-Milwaukee has developed a method ...
Electrical Property Enhanced Tomography (EPET) Apparatus And Method
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Conventional methods for detecting tumors such as x-ray tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound can produce an accurate picture in terms of spatial resolution. However, information about the character of various objects located in the interior of the sample is often limited. Techniques that measure the electrical properties of samples, specifically human tissues, are referred to as “impedance tomography” and can offer high resolution images of internal electrical properties. A researcher from UW-Milwaukee has developed an ...
Use of Electrical Property Enhanced Tomography to Detect Tumors in Homogeneous Tissues
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Mammography, the conventional method for detecting breast cancer, is an unpleasant procedure that can cause the patient discomfort and expose them to harmful ionizing radiation. In addition, studies show that 20-50% of breast cancers go undetected at the screening stage. Electrical property enhanced tomography (EPET) is a new medical imaging modality that maps the electrical properties of the body’s tissues to produce high resolution images of internal structures without exposing the body to ionizing radiation. While effective, previous ...
Apparatus and Method for Analyzing Nerve Conduction
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Nerve conduction tests aid in the diagnosis of nerve and muscle problems such as Xperipheral neuropathy (common in diabetes) and mononeuritis multiplex or conditions whereby nerves are affected by mechanical compression injury (such as carpal tunnel syndrome). Physicians using an electromyogram (EMG) to evaluate a nerve or muscle generally rely only on the conduction velocity of the signal, termed a compound motor action potential (CMAP) signal, generated from an electrical current delivered to the nerve or muscle. In addition to the ...
Real-time Adjustment of Prosthetic Leg Socket for Improved Comfort
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The fit and comfort of a prosthesis can change due to activity level throughout the day. Activities such as running, jumping, leaning and lifting can cause persistent localized high pressure points that cause discomfort. There is a need for a leg socket that can adjust to varying pressure in real-time, to allow for greater comfort. A researcher at the University of Wisconsin – Stout has designed a cushioned prosthetic socket that adjusts local pressure in a liner between the prosthesis and limb in real-time to increase comfort especially for ...
Seat with Adjustable Dynamic Joint
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In today’s increasingly sedentary and technology-dependant culture, people spend long hours sitting every day. Prolonged sitting has an extensive and well-documented list of negative health effects upon the human body. Next to the common cold, lower back pain is the biggest reason for worker absenteeism. Although sitting requires less physical effort than standing or walking, it puts a great deal of stress upon the lower body. Simply put, the human body is not physiologically suited for extended inactivity. The Adjustable Dynamic Joint is a ...
Reducing Artifacts in Medical Imaging Data Acquired During RF Ablation
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Electronic medical imaging techniques such as digital radiography, computed tomography (CT), ultrasound imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) employ sophisticated electronic sensors and computational systems to produce advanced images of tissue in vivo. The images then are used to diagnose and treat diseases. Radio frequency (RF) thermal ablation is a method of using metallic electrodes inserted into tissue, for example a tumor, and producing electrical heating to destroy the tumor. It is desirable to use electronic ...
Braided Tertiary Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Ligament, Tendon and Muscle Tissue Engineering
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Tissue damaged as a result of ligament, tendon or muscle tissue injury often is treated by replacement with artificial material, cadaver tissue or donated tissue. However, artificial material is unable to sustain the mechanical properties required for ligament and tendon functions, and the material strength often degrades and results in failure after implantation. In addition, there is a shortage of natural sources such as cadaver and donated tissue that are safe and functional for use as biological grafts. Tissue engineering provides a ...
Hybrid Method for Prior Image Reconstruction in Cardiac Cone-Beam Computed Tomography
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The X-ray source and radiation detector in a conventional computed tomography (CT) system are rotated on a gantry so that the angle at which the X-ray beams intersect the object constantly changes. In a “cone beam” arrangement using a C-arm system and small flat-panel detector, the focal spot of the X-ray source and the detector define a cone-shaped beam of X-rays. If a subject is not fully covered by the cone beam, the view is said to be “truncated.” When the subject is human body, measuring non-truncated cone ...
Method for Improved Fat-Water Signal Separation in Phase Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC MRI) can be used to improve diagnostic accuracy of vascular, musculoskeletal and cerebrospinal exams. PC MRI functions by receiving a signal emitted by the “spins” of excited nuclei in the tissue as well as encoding spin motion into the phase of the acquired signal. Then the signal is processed to form an image. Use of PC MRI in areas with significant fat surrounding vessels presents a unique set of challenges. The magnetic resonance signal of fat is at a different frequency that that ...
Intelligent, Real-Time Tracking Method to Enhance Ultrasound-Based Strain and Elasticity Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ultrasound-based elasticity imaging is used in medicine for non-invasive analysis of tissue movement and displacement. These types of techniques determine how tissue moves in response to pressure, much like the pressing of tissue by a physician to feel differences in elasticity in the underlying structures. Because tumors often are stiffer than surrounding tissue, elasticity measurements can be used to help diagnose breast, liver or prostate cancer. In ultrasound strain imaging, two images obtained with an ultrasound probe are analyzed to ...
Water-Fat Signal Separation for Improved MRI Image Reconstruction
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Chemical shift-based multi-echo water-fat separation methods are used increasingly in MRI clinical applications to distinguish between water and fat nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals. Water and fat signals can be “swapped” by imaging algorithms due to shifts in the magnetic field that occur during imaging. A tumor mislabeled as fat in a particularly bad swap could lead to an incorrect diagnosis. Distinguishing between the signals is important for image quality and clarity, which contributes to accurate interpretation and ...
Non-Invasive Magnetic Resonance Thermometry in the Presence of Water and Fat
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Nuclear magnetic resonance is the property of magnetic nuclei used in medical imaging techniques like MRI to produce images. The nuclear magnetic resonance of water is known to be dependent on temperature, and can therefore be used to non-invasively measure temperature changes of tissue using MRI. However, the nuclear magnetic resonance of fat is not dependent on temperature, and this property causes corruption in images when attempting to use conventional MRI thermometry methods. Evaluating temperature change in tissue is highly desirable ...
Monitoring Consciousness for Improved Anesthesia Delivery
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Anesthetics are a critical part of modern surgical practice. Unfortunately, once in every 1000 to 2000 operations a patient may temporarily regain consciousness or even remain conscious during surgery. One cause of such awareness during surgery is the difficulty in objectively evaluating levels of consciousness in patients. Determining consciousness is challenging because anesthetics work in many ways, any of which could impair responsiveness, even during consciousness. For example, some anesthetic agents prevent unwanted movement, which can ...
“DR-PICCS” – Dose Reduction Using PICCS Image Reconstruction Algorithms
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In imaging technologies, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is a quantitative measure of image quality. In medical imaging specifically, as SNR decreases, it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate between anatomical features and other clinical findings needed to correctly analyze the image and identify a diagnosis. Many medical imaging methods involve taking multiple image slices and using reconstruction algorithms to generate the final image read by radiologists. Reconstruction often is performed one slice at a time, resulting in a lower ...
Microfluidic Systems and Methods Applicable to <i>In Vitro</i> Fertilization
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Microfluidic systems and methods can provide many functions of larger systems and facilities, such as entire laboratories, with increased efficiency as well as reduced size, cost and complexity. Such microfluidic systems and methods have applications in many fields, including biology. For example, technology-assisted reproduction techniques in which embryos are handled independently from their biological source are growing in importance and frequency of use. Agricultural industries rely on assisted reproduction techniques such as embryo ...
Correcting for Patient Motion with T1-Weighted PROPELLER MRI
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
A leading method for reducing motion blurring in medical imaging is called PROPELLER (Periodically Rotated Overlapping ParallEL Lines with Enhanced Reconstruction). It allows doctors to track and help correct for the movement of a patient during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. This technology can make clearer images with faster scanning and result times. It is especially useful for patients who move, like children and those with conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. However, acquiring motion-corrected parallel images is challenging ...
Calibrated Drill Sleeve Also Protects Soft Tissue
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Drills are commonly used during orthopedic surgery to place screws that allow fixation of fractured bones. One problem that surgeons face while drilling is the overlying soft tissue becoming entangled in the drill bit. Another issue is the drill plunging into the soft tissue structures on the far side of the bone, which can endanger neurovascular structures. Also, surgeons must use a depth gauge to measure the length of the hole to allow accurately sized screws to be placed. This additional step takes time and can also plunge and cause ...
New Peptide-Mimicking Compounds for Anti-Cancer PET Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Cancers cause about 15 percent of all human deaths worldwide, are not fully understood and defy efficient therapy. Early detection and treatment can improve survival rates and one promising strategy is noninvasive imaging of tumor growth. Specifically, positron emission tomography (PET) scans can show when and where a solid tumor is forming new blood vessels – a process called angiogenesis. In addition, many cancer cells overexpress integrin αvβ3; therefore, PET scans targeting integrin αvβ3 can enable the detection of both tumor vessel ...
Detecting Iron Overload with MRI
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Iron is an essential nutrient for the human body but is toxic in excess. Iron overload is a particular hazard to patients requiring regular blood transfusions. Treatment for patients with iron overload aims to reduce body iron stores by using drugs (chelators) that facilitate removal of iron from the body. Unfortunately, chelator treatment is extremely expensive and has side effects. Accurate measurement of body iron levels is critical for initiating and monitoring treatment. The best reference for assessing total iron stores is hepatic iron ...
Single-Shot Vascular MR Imaging Without Contrast Agent
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Acquiring diagnostic images of a patient’s vasculature can be difficult and time consuming. Some magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques employ contrast-enhancing agents, such as gadolinium, that can be injected into the subject just prior to scanning to improve image quality. The agent’s concentrated mass (or bolus) then must be tracked through the vasculature. Even if the bolus can be tracked, such contrast-enhanced approaches provide only a short imaging window. Also, some agents may cause discomfort, pain, renal impairment and ...
Medical Imaging with Better Temporal Fidelity Can Streamline Stroke Care
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The outcome of a stroke can hinge on the time spent on diagnosis and intervention. Perfusion imaging is a critical step in the process, wherein a patient is scanned to identify salvageable tissue. These perfusion studies can take hours to schedule and perform. Transporting patients between imaging and intervention suites is a race against time. Health care could be streamlined if perfusion studies were performed with the same c-arm computed tomography (CT) system used for intervention. Two major challenges hinder this. First, these systems ...
Rapid Three-Dimensional Elasticity Imaging
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Elastography is a type of imaging technique that reveals the stiffness of tissues. It commonly is used to detect tumors and other abnormalities that cause changes in local tissue stiffness. Measurements can be output as values or displayed as an image. Generally, stiffness is gauged by how tissue yields under some force or pressure. In ‘dynamic’ elastography, a low-frequency vibration is applied and the resulting compression/shear waves are detected using ultrasound. In ‘quasi-static’ elastography, two images of the tissue obtained at ...
Cervical Probe Predicts Preterm Delivery Risk
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Preterm birth affects 13 million babies every year, resulting in infant deaths, disabilities and medical conditions costing $26 billion annually in the U.S. alone. Preterm birth rates have increased in the past century due to more high risk pregnancies and a lack of effective therapies to treat these conditions. Neither drugs nor cervical sutures prevent preterm births. The cause of preterm births appears to be the premature or accelerated ‘remodeling’ of the cervix, when tissue softens and shortens to allow vaginal birth. The ability to ...
Cervical Probe Predicts Preterm Delivery Risk
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Preterm birth affects 13 million babies every year, resulting in infant deaths, disabilities and medical conditions costing $26 billion annually in the U.S. alone. Preterm birth rates have increased in the past century due to more high risk pregnancies and a lack of effective therapies to treat these conditions. Neither drugs nor cervical sutures prevent preterm births. The cause of preterm births appears to be the premature or accelerated ‘remodeling’ of the cervix, when tissue softens and shortens to allow vaginal birth. The ability to ...
Organization: PARTEQ Innovations, Queen's University
Novari Health creates innovative IT solutions that improve patient access to care. We are the only Canadian health IT vendor to combine a comprehensive surgical access and patient management system with real time, automatic wait times reporting. Our Access and Central Intake Solutions are developed by healthcare experts for healthcare experts to streamline patient management across the continuum of care and reduce wait times.
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Echometrix is a Madison-based developer of proprietary ultrasound technology, licensed from WARF, which offers a new quantitative approach to the functional analysis of musculoskeletal injuries. Instead of diagnostic images, the company's products map mechanical properties and behavior of a target tissue. Echometrix will improve musculoskeletal injury diagnostics, while helping to address accelerating costs in musculoskeletal imaging. Early studies demonstrate improvements in injury assessment when compared with traditional ultrasound. The ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
NeuWave Medical Inc. is a spin-off company from UW-Madison. NeuWave arose as the result of an academic collaboration between engineers and physicians who wished to improve their ability to treat cancer and other important clinical problems. As a result, NeuWave is highly focused on solving real clinical problems in a manner that will directly benefit patients by being more effective, minimally invasive and cost conscious. Everything that the company does is based on providing better technology for patients, physicians and healthcare ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
NovaScan LLC is located at the Cozzens-Cudahy Research Center in Milwaukee, Wis., and has developed patented technology that electrically images objects. While there are a number of potential applications for the technology, the company's initial focus is on identifying different tissue types to improve cancer detection. Tissues exhibit electrical behavior that varies by tissue type and disease condition and because of the unique electrical properties of each tissue, it is possible to measure and distinguish diseased from normal tissue. The ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Ratio Inc. is a medical device company developing a technology platform that will enable low-cost, advanced functionality drug delivery products. Ratio's first product is a one-time-use, disposable pump that adheres to the skin and can deliver a drug painlessly. Currently, three U.S. patents are filed around the core technology aimed at broadly protecting critical components of device operation and proprietary microneedle arrays. Ratio is located in Madison, Wis.
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Swallow Solutions LLC is dedicated to providing screening, diagnostic and treatment solutions for individuals suffering from swallowing disorders (dysphagia). Complications of dysphagia include pneumonia, malnutrition or dehydration and affect more than 15 million adults and many millions of children in the U.S. Swallow Solutions' focus areas include devices for diagnosing and treating patients with dysphagia and nutritional beverages and foods tailored to the patient's diagnosed level of swallowing difficulty. Products are conceived to ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Wicab Inc. is focused on the research, development and commercialization of BrainPort? devices, based on a proprietary technology that provides substitute sensory information to the brain via the tongue. Sensory substitution is based on the premise that the input sensors for the human senses can be augmented or substituted by alternate sensors. For example, the BrainPort balance device uses an accelerometer to provide accurate positional information to subjects with balance disorders. The BrainPort vision device uses a digital camera to ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Located in Athens, Ga., ArunA Biomedical Inc. is a privately held biotechnology corporation dedicated to the discovery, manufacturing and commercialization of emerging new technologies in human stem cell research for use in drug discovery and basic research. ArunA is the first company to commercialize products derived from human embryonic stem cells and sees its proprietary technology as a catalyst leading to the discovery of novel therapeutic compounds, tests for neurotoxicity and breakthroughs in understanding human development and diseases.
Cellular Dynamics International (CDI)
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Cellular Dynamics International Inc. (CDI) is a leading developer of next-generation tools and services for drug discovery, screening and predictive toxicology. CDI combines the power of human pluripotent stem cells and cardiac toxicity for world class drug development including a GP facility for hERG testing for FDA submissions. CDI was founded in 2005 by Dr. Jamie Thomson, a pioneer in human embryonic stem cells from UW-Madison. CDI's facilities are located in Madison, Wis.
Stemina Biomarker Discovery Inc.
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Stemina was founded in late 2006 and opened its facility in the University Research Park in November 2007 to commercialize hES cell technology based on Dr. Gabriela Cezar's work at UW-Madison. Human embryonic stem cells offer a unique and never before available opportunity to study the pathways impacted by exposure to toxic compounds or the manifestations of devastating disease. Stemina combines hES cell technology and mass spectrometry to discover and validate small molecules that are biomarkers of toxicity. The company's technological ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
Bridge to Life Ltd. plans to generate revenue by selling Belzer UW? brands of cold storage and kidney perfusion solutions and use those revenues to help pay for animal and clinical studies to develop a very promising patented new technology?fusogenic liposomal ATP, which transports high volumes of ATP into cells. ATP is essential for cell and organ health. Early animal studies show that fusogenic liposomal ATP may improve the condition of organs to be transplanted that would be a substantial advance in organ transplantation. Other potential ...
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
TomoTherapy Inc. had an initial public offering in April 2007 and was acquired by Accuray in 2011. TomoTherapy has developed the Hi-Art treatment system, which combines CT imaging and two flexible radiation delivery modes, TomoHelical and TomoDirect, for highly-precise cancer treatments that help limit radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. The Hi-Art treatment system is the only device developed from the ground up for image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, and allows a consistent planning and treatment process to be ...
Organization: University of Miami
Vigilant Biosciences, Inc. ("VigilantBIO") was founded in 2011 to identify and develop a pipeline of improved healthcare products aimed at early intervention for cost effective and enhanced patient care. The company is currently trialing its initial product: an easy-to-use, highly specific, low-cost and noninvasive screening kit for oral cancer that allows for detection before visual symptoms present. VigilantBIO has assembled an extraordinarily talented and experienced management team and presented both its products and business plan at ...
Researchers Realize a Vision to Help the Blind
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
This innovation started with Paul Bach-y-Rita, M.D., who was an early pioneer in the field of neuroplasticity — the idea that the brain can be trained to process information in a new way. In the 1960s, he became interested in using that concept to design a device that would transfer the sense of sight into touch, a process known as sensory substitution. When Bach-y-Rita came to the University of Wisconsin in the 1980s he picked up the idea of sensory substitution again. Bach-y-Rita, along with Kurt Kaczmarek, Ph.D., then a staff scientist ...
TomoTherapy’s Revolutionary Cancer Treatment Zeroes in on Tumors with Precision
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
University of Wisconsin-Madison professors Thomas Mackie and Paul Reckwerdt wanted to solve a big problem in cancer treatment therapy — the serious damage to normal tissues and organs created by standard radiation therapy. They were intrigued with the idea of building a machine that could deliver a tightly controlled pattern of radiation that preferentially strikes cancer tumors, sparing the surrounding tissue from harm. The breakthrough that Reckwerdt and Mackie discovered is called helical TomoTherapy-brand radiotherapy, which creates a ...
TRICKS Changes the Face of Medicine
Organization: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
In the 1980s, the X-ray technique became the gold standard for diagnostic images. Then in the 1990s, radiologists used MRI exams, sometimes injecting a contrasting agent into the patient to better enhance the study. The trouble was that the results sometimes were confusing to interpret. The reason was timing. In diagnostic imaging, timing is everything. With the old technology, the camera takes multiple shots, often missing a crucial snapshot in time. TRICKS, developed by UW–Madison professor Charles Mistretta, acts more like a video ...
Atomic Oxygen Textured Surfaces for Blood Glucose & Other Analyte Monitoring: Light Pointe Medical
Organization: NASA Glenn Research Center
As a result of NASA’s research on low Earth orbital atomic oxygen interactions with spacecraft materials, this technology was discovered and thereafter developed in collaboration with Light Pointe Medical. This process produces microscopic cones on the tip surface of optical fibers to allow the rapid measurement of blood glucose and other analytes. The texturing provides a separation of red cells from blood plasma, increases the surface area on the fiber tip with less blood volume required, and provides a faster measurement response time at a ...
