Main Menu

Optical traps (optical tweezers) have a focused laser beam able to trap a small bead at its focus, and are used to measure the microrheology of gels and other materials. They have recently been used to characterize properties of living cells, however issues of image spatial resolution and limited depth of interrogation have prevented application of an optical trap to measure microrheological (flow of matter) properties in complex (non-uniform) materials, such as multi-cellular systems or living organisms. 

Alterations in microRNAs (miRNAs), a type of small non-coding RNAs, have been reported in cells/tumors subjected to radiation exposure, implying that miRNAs play an important role in cellular stress response to radiation. NCI researchers evaluated small non-coding RNAs, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA), and mRNA, as potential non-invasive biomarkers for radiation biodosimetry. While the use of miRNAs as radiation biomarkers has been reported, the integrated use of miRNAs, mRNAs and lncRNAs to accurately determine radiation doses is novel and has not been published.

The degradation of archival surgical and biospecimen limits the utility of many biomarkers that may have prognostic or predictive significance in guiding a patient’s therapy. Previous methods at preventing the degradation of RNA and proteins in formalin fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks & slides have no protective benefit. 

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its immune-escaping variants have led to global COVID-19 pandemic/endemic, underscoring the urgent need for effective vaccines with strong and durable immune responses.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute’s Biopharmaceutical Development Program recently developed massively parallel sequencing methods for virus-derived therapeutics such as viral vaccines and oncolytic immunotherapies.

This technology includes a fully automatic 3D image processing system to segment the heart as well as other organs from contrast-enhanced cardiac computed tomography (CCT) images. Our method detects four cardiac chambers including left ventricle, right ventricle, left atrium, right atrium, as well as the ascending aorta and left ventricular myocardium. It also classifies noncardiac tissue structures in the CCT images such as lung, chest wall, spine, descending aorta, and liver.

This technology includes a computer-implemented method for determining magnetic field inversion time of a tissue species using a T1-mapping image, information about the region of interest, and a tissue classification algorithm. This method includes T1-mapping image comprising a plurality of T1 values within an expected range of T1 values for the tissue of interest. An image mask is created based on predetermined identification information about the tissue of interest. Next, an updated image mask is created based on a largest connected region in the image mask.

This technology includes a transgenic reporter mouse that expresses a fluorescent protein called mt-Keima, to be used to detect and quantify in vivo mitophagy. This fluorescent protein was originally described by a group in Japan and shown to be able to measure both the general process of autophagy and mitophagy. We extended these results by creating a living animal so that we could get a measurement for in vivo mitophagy. Our results demonstrate that our mt-Keima mouse allows for a straightforward and practical way to quantify mitophagy in vivo.

This technology includes a method to reduce scanning time while retaining high image quality during MRI scans. A reconstructed image is rendered from a set of MRI data by first estimating an image with an area which does not contain artifacts or has an artifact with a relatively small magnitude. Corresponding data elements in the estimated image and a trial image are processed, for instance by multiplication, to generate an intermediate data set.

This technology includes in vitro-generated trophectoderm (TE) cells, which are ideal for modeling diseases of the placenta, drug screening, and cell-based therapies. The TE lineage which gives rise to placental cells during early human development. Derivation of definitive placental cells from human pluripotent stem cells in culture remains controversial and so far, placental cells can only be derived directly from primary placental tissue, which largely limits their access and study in the laboratory.