Research Project
8164064
The goal of this project is to develop multiple-biomarker imaging for detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) associated human cancer. Quantum dots (QDs) with multiple emission colors were chosen as optical probes to label the biomarkers on tissue. Attributeto the unique optical properties of QDs, they can be used as powerful cancer diagnostic tools providing the molecular profiles of cancer cases based on common clinical biopsies and allowing the tumor cell detection and analysis in highly heterogenous samples and rare cell populations. To develop practicable clinical products, several issues have to be solved, such as optical stability of fluorescence intensity of QDs under light irradiation, binding stability of QD-antibody conjugates on tissue during the staining process, imaging process method and optical readers. This SBIR team assembled material scientist, cancer biologist, pathologist, and imaging expert to address the key issues in the quantification of the expression level of HPV biomarker.
