📋 Tender Overview
Hyperpolarized Magnetic Resonance At The Point-Of-Care
Objective
HYPMET proposes a pioneering research methodology for hyperpolarized magnetic resonance for real-time monitoring of upregulated metabolic pathways in cancer cells and in-vivo and for body fluid metabolic analyses with the prospect of revolutionizing the medical approach to personalised treatments.
A common analytical method for structural biology, medical imaging, and chemical analysis is nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which is flexible but intrinsically insensitive. Even in the most sensitive NMR spectra, many endogenous compounds found in blood, saliva, or urine are currently unresolved.
HYPMET will establish a ground-breaking technology enabling the detection of body fluids metabolites below the current limit of NMR detection (~µM) and the real-time monitoring of clinically relevant metabolic pathways in-cells and in-vivo; it will enable NMR metabolomics analyses at the point-of-care and will be fully compatible with personalised medical treatments; it will be compact (less than 10×10×30 cm) and will not require superconducting magnets.
Emerging methods (e.g. hyperpolarisation methods - HM) can boost the NMR signal intensity. HYPMET will merge two HMs to achieve NMR signal enhancements of several thousand-fold continuously, in the liquid state and at ultra-low-magnetic field (ULF, i.e. <10 mT) for many nuclear isotopes. The two HMs are: Overhauser Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (ODNP) and Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE). The PI unique expertise spans method development on various HMs and development and implementation of a protocol for real-time monitoring of pyruvate to lactate conversions in-cells and in-vivo to probe the state of a tumor in real-time. Success in this multidisciplinary project will pave the way for efficient NMR metabolomics analyses and for better real-time metabolic conversion monitoring directly at the point-of-care. In the future, the technology could be further reduced in size and become a widespread clinical tool.
Funded Under
European Research Council (Erc)
Total Cost
€ 1 499 968,75
Eu Contribution
€ 1 499 968,75
Coordinated By
Universita Degli Studi Di Padova
Italy
