vascuVis Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Elucid Bioimaging, has been awarded a two-year, $696,200 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for vascuCAP, its image processing system that employs a revolutionary approach in computational image processing using, “computer-aided prognostics,” to quantitatively evaluate the severity and composition of atherosclerotic plaque.
Analyzing multiple sequence magnetic resonance image data, a prior successful NSF-SBIR Phase I Study optimized the vascuCAP prototype to demonstrate feasibility of proprietary methods to quantitatively evaluate arterial plaques including structural measurements and functional characterizations to analyze and classify tissue types consistent with disease severity. The results of the feasibility experiments supported by the Phase I grant have just been published in the April issue of Medical Physics.
The NSF-SBIR Phase II Award objective is to build on and refine vascuCAP for assessment of atherosclerotic disease severity. vascuCAP will be used to perform a multiplex assay that measures prognostic signatures for use in both cross-sectional as well as longitudinal applications. Embedded localized ground truth maps co-registered with histopathology provide a basis for system optimization. Finally, the program capabilities will be rigorously validated on animal and human data under strict design controls for its numerous applications including exploratory endpoints for preclinical and clinical studies of new therapeutic agents, for personalized medicine to tailor specific drug treatment options and as a screening tool for clinicians to identify dangerous, often asymptomatic atherosclerotic plaques to prevent catastrophic cardiovascular events, i.e. debilitating stroke or sudden death.
vascuCAP is used as a non-invasive imaging biomarker that increases the effective resolution of standard MRI through steerable spatial and textural filters that discriminate arterial microstructure both spatially and temporally using patented technology to provide a quantitative analysis without exposure to ionizing radiation.
Elucid Bioimaging Inc. is a specialty Contract Research Organization (CRO) and leader in quantitative image analysis services to characterize, optimize, and validate imaging biomarkers for drug development to improve the effectiveness and reduce the cost of clinical trials of novel therapies and develop improved tools for medical decisions and patient management.
For more information, visit www.elucidbio.com.
