SBIR Phase II: Development of a Microscope to Detect Cellular Motion in Three-dimensional Tissue

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop a new microscope that integrates biodynamic imaging with conventional phase contrast microscopy for use in drug development and other research applications. Accurately capturing the signatures of three-dimensional biological systems provides more realistic measures of drug efficacy and response heterogeneity - two critical aspects of the drug-development process that help find the right drug doses and combinations to kill cancer cells with minimal toxic side effects. This tool will extract functional information at greater tissue depths than conventional microscopies by using cellular motions inside living tissue. The motion is detected by reflected light that carries with it important information about the action of drugs inside 3D tissue, allowing drug evaluations in heterogeneous three-dimensional tissues systems, and providing new insights for pharmaceutical development. This SBIR Phase II project provides a tool capable of extracting high-content information from inside three-dimensional living tissue culture and tumor biopsies. It extracts this functional information at greater tissue depths than conventional microscopies by using Doppler tags on light scattered from intracellular motions inside living tissue. These novel Doppler tags carry phenotypic profiling information about the action of drugs inside 3D tissue, allowing drug evaluations in heterogeneous three-dimensional tissues and providing new insights for pharmaceutical development and therapeutics. The project goals are to construct a new type of microscope based on the detection of cellular motions, and to integrate the microscope with a software platform that is easy to use by customers. Upon completion of this Phase II, a commercial biodynamic microscope product will be ready for value-added resale of leading microscopes to life sciences customers.