Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The name of our company is Vestan. We've developed fluorescent
imaging compounds that surgeons can use in the operating room to
identify tumors and lymph nodes. The fluorescence can be detected
by the surgeon. If I remove the blue light, the compound appears
very pale yellow and is difficult to visualize.
I want to know if my patient's cancer has spread. One area it can
spread to are the lymph nodes. Using the compounds that we have
developed in our lab in the Department of Chemistry, I can inject
these around the patient's cancer. That helps me find the lymph
nodes and determine if there is cancer in them.
Many new imaging modalities and techniques require very expensive,
very elaborate equipment. Vestan believes the simpler a
visualization technology is the broader impact it can have.
After I have injected the fluorescent green compound, in this case
in a patient with skin cancer, I can use the blue LED illuminator
to find where the cancer cells travel.
We're currently using this technology in clinical trials at the
Huntsman Cancer Institute, and we're working with the FDA to get
broader approval across the country.
The culture of innovation at the University of Utah allows for
collaborations that otherwise would be very unlikely to happen.
In this case, between a chemist, a basic research scientist, and a
clinician, a surgeon. This type of collaboration allows for
quantum leaps in the development of new imaging technologies.
[Music]