I-Corps: Cold Plasma Cancer Therapy

George Washington University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a new and fascinating type of plasmas having tremendous potential in medicine and nanotechnology. One of the most promising applications of CAP is the cancer therapy. CAP selectively affect cancer cells and lead to tumor ablation. Successful conduction of this project would have tremendous impact on many important sectors of the national economy including medical equipment, and scientific devices. This I-Corps project will serve as an excellent vehicle for undergraduate and graduate education in the field of plasma medicine and commercialization of medical devices. This I-Corps team will make a concerted effort to involve women and under-represented minority students in this project by working closely with corresponded student organizations at the George Washington University. The fundamental significance of the proposed work is in exploring medical action of CAP, in particular, CAP interaction with tumor. To this end a wide spectrum of diagnostic instrumentations and chemical and biological sensors will be employed. Technical part of the project will be focused on development of a prototype system for clinical trials. During the I-Corps program, in addition to customer discovery, the team will be focused on building a prototype device that will generate cold plasma as well as consumable probe that will be used to deliver CAP to tissue. The prototype device will be tested in vitro on various cell lines. In addition the team will initiate new series of animal study using nude mice. The team also intends to initiate discussions with Federal Drug Administration on the necessary steps to approve this device for clinical use.