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The National Institute on Aging's (NIA) Cellular Biophysics Section is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize biological pacemakers.

A common symptom of many heart diseases is an abnormal heart rhythm or arrhythmia. While effectively improving the lives of many patients, implantable pacemakers have significant limitations such as limited power sources, risk of infections, potential for interference from other devices, and absence of autonomic rate modulation.

Crouch gait is a common disorder in pediatric cerebral palsy (CP). Effective treatment of crouch during childhood is critical to maintain mobility into adulthood. Current interventions do not alleviate crouch gait long-term for most patients. This technology relates to a powered exoskeleton designed for gait assistance. The powered assistance may provide a physical therapy-type intervention to improve and maintain mobility.  

Typical MRI imaging sessions can last over 45 minutes and depend on the subject remaining still during the procedure for accurate imaging. In particular, animals being imaged, such as rodents (rats) in an awakened state, are not readily compliant with the restricted movement required when being imaged. Current techniques for imaging awake animals focus on training them with full body restraints and head fixation using a bite bar and/or ear bars.

The accurate placement of transplanted tissue at a precise position in the retina is difficult but critical for a successful implementation of an ocular surgical intervention. 

The culture of mouse embryos ex utero and continuous monitoring and imaging of embryos as they develop have applications in drug testing, genetic studies, and basic research on embryonic development. However, the embryo culture systems currently available for post-implantation embryos include rolling bottle culture systems, which do not permit imaging of the developing embryos and do not support the long-term survival and development of embryos ex utero.

Molecular imaging is a disease-specific targeting modality that promises much more accurate diagnoses of serious diseases such as cancer and infections. Agents are being continually developed with a view to clinical translation, with several such therapies requiring measurement of very small doses. Currently, there is no way of accurately measuring small amounts of radioactivity used in many pre-clinical tracer studies, as on-the-market commercial dose calibrators measure at too high a dose range, typically at 10-1000 µCi and higher.

The ability to hold and transport tissue, especially needle biopsies in a pre-defined and controlled environment is critical for the preservation of biopsy samples in downstream analytic applications. Currently, tissue specimens are placed in open containers with variable, poorly controlled solutions applied to them, often in less than sterile conditions.  Evaluation of the tissue by examination through a stereoscope or similar approaches to determine adequacy is limited and requires manipulation of the tissue that can further damage the tissue.

Computer and imaging technologies led to the development of digital pathology and the capture and storage of pathological specimens as digitally formatted images. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital pathology, such as in three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction, requires analyses of high volumes of data. This results in increased demands for processing and acquisition of digital images of pathology samples. Increased usage cannot be met by the time-consuming, manual, and laborious methods currently used.