Proposed Technologies
2024: Potential Technologies
1. Peripherally restricted and subtype selective 5-HT2B antagonists for treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)
Summary: PAH is a progressive lethal disease characterized by widespread obstruction in the smallest arteries of the lungs. Pulmonary vascular obstruction leads to increased pulmonary vascular resistance, which subsequently causes right heart failure. Prevalence of PAH is 15 cases per million which represents more than 4,500 PAH patients in the US. Its notorious mortality continues in the current era, as a third of all patients die within three years. The current treatment strategy for PAH is vasodilators which do not alter the pathogenesis of the disease, but simply treat symptoms; however, vasodilators are effective in less than 10% of PAH patients. Moreover, most of these drugs have serious side effects and 11 of the 13 cost over $100k per year. This technology aims to treat PAH by targeting a new pathway.
2. COX-2-targeted nanobodies for endoscopic visualization of colorectal adenomas
Summary: Precursor lesions such as aberrant crypt foci, hyperplastic polys, and macro- or micro-adenomas are signatures of abnormal proliferative activity of colorectal epithelium. Morphologically, these often small and flat precursors and associated lesions are different from the normal colonic mucosa, but under white light, they are difficult to distinguish from surrounding healthy tissue. Colonoscopic detection and removal of these pre-neoplastic lesions followed by surveillance represent the most important prevention method for colorectal cancer. This technology aims to diagnose these precursor lesions for earlier intervention.
2023 Selected technology:
Generation of Dynamic Profiles to Model Pharmacodynamics in Cell Culture
Summary: A device and method for creating models of how cells react to and break down molecules using a semi-automated system. The main application is modeling the pharmacodynamic profiles of drugs.
2021 Selected technology:
Cad Biomaterial
- Summary: Healthy tissues require sufficient blood flow for oxygen and nutrient delivery. In aging and disease, arteries become blocked, leading to ischemia in downstream tissue beds. Likewise, a significant number of transplanted organs are rejected due to ischemia-causing blood clots Over two million hernia surgeries are conducted in the US every year, and 30% of those fail due to lack of vascularization of the surgical mesh. This requires patients to be readmitted to surgery to replace the mesh. Similarly, of the 8,000 liver transplants in the US every year, 5-10% fail because of hepatic artery clogs due to poor vascularization. This failure can sometimes be life-threatening, and it is also a waste of precious transplant tissue. Many biomaterials have been developed to promote blood vessel growth, which could theoretically be delivered to these problematic areas to combat ischemia. However, all previous biomaterials have been designed to grow capillaries, the smallest and most fragile vessels in the body. Capillary growth is very slow, which limits tissue penetration of newly formed vessels. In addition, since capillaries lack smooth muscle, they cannot handle high pressure outflows from arteries. Thus, current biomaterials are insufficient for therapeutic interventions that require collateralization of host blood flow around occluded vessels. This material has been shown to grow thicker vascular beds in vitro compared to the current standard and is relatively cheap to make. This technology relates to a new class of biomaterials that promote growth of arterioles, which are larger vessels that contain a lining of smooth muscle and can handle high pressure flow. Extensive unpublished work has shown this biomaterial variant is a potent inducer of arteriole growth in vitro and in vivo.