I-Corps: Quantitative Tissue Oxygen Sensors

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to personalize therapies and improve outcomes for patients with a wide range of diseases and ailments. Deviation from normal tissue oxygen levels can cause poor outcomes for patients, ranging from resistance to radiation therapy for cancer patients to amputation for a patient suffering from a crushed limb. Clinical interventions to address these and other diseases require an oxygen sensing method that produces actionable data and is in a format that is compatible with current clinical care. For example, when treating cancer, understanding the distribution and quantitative levels of tumor oxygen could enable physicians to apply higher doses of radiation to the low oxygen regions in order to combat the treatment resistance typically observed in these environments. This oxygen sensor is a platform technology that can be used in a wide range of clinical and pre-clinical applications. It overcomes the limitations of both past and current oxygen sensing alternatives and provides minimally invasive, quantitative, and absolute measurements of tissue oxygen. This I-Corps project focuses on advancing a novel oxygen sensing polymer that is measured non-invasively using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This material is used to quantify oxygen by measuring the influence of molecular oxygen on the MRI properties of the silicone. The MRI properties are a function of the concentration of oxygen that is in the sensor at any given time. The MRI measurements can be converted to oxygen values using a calibration curve to provide the actionable clinical information to physicians. The sensor is made completely of silicone which limits the ingress of water and biological materials that could compromise measurement quality. The elastomeric nature of the silicone sensor allows it to be customized for a wide range of clinical applications. The sensor offers quantitative and long-term tracking of tissue oxygen with a technique and device that is compatible with the clinical workflow. This sensor has been evaluated in multiple pre-clinical small animal models and is in an early feasibility clinical trial for cervical cancer. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.