Advanced Lung Phantom based on Hierarchical mAterials for multimodal theranostics (ALPHA)
Recent advances in medical technologies are arousing a plethora of proposals for hybrid or multimodal methods combining ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, ultrasound and image processing tools that collectively hold the potential to support the digital transformation of healthcare systems.
Their application to critical sites like the lungs may make a major impact on outstanding problems like carcinoma, genetic disorders like cystic fibrosis or infectious conditions like viral or microbial pneumonia, which clearly await innovative developments. However, in place of the path to clinical uptake, too many new ideas, no matter how good they are, take the direction of a so-called “valley of death”. In most cases, the main reason for such a failure is as trivial as a lack of adequate tools for performance assessment, the current paradigm centered on lab animals being too unsustainable especially for early day-to-day work. In this context, anatomical phantoms may really play a strategic role. However, current solutions of anatomical phantoms made of plain polymers or natural stocks are too primitive to support the development of multimodal and hybrid technologies, and this is particularly true in such a complex organ as the lungs.
This proposal arises from a growing demand for progress in the diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases, including those associated to COVID-19. It aims to develop a lung phantom for testing new diagnostic or therapeutic approaches as well as clinical protocols of interest in carcinoma and pneumonia. Its scope is a new platform to replicate the interactions between the human lungs and all desired physical agents, such as light, ultrasound and X-rays, and to display dosimetric sensitivity to all desired physical treatments, such as photo and radiation therapies.
We will synthesize the underlying materials based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) by combining bottom-up and top-down methods, in order to achieve bio-inspired hierarchical architectures that may resemble the ultrastructure of human lungs and accommodate the proper variety of contrast agents and dosimetric reporters, and for casting into lung-like sponges reconstructed by the help of additive manufacturing.
We will assess their tissue-like and radiation-response properties in a variety of preclinical and clinical conditions, and we will test their use in real cases of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that are under investigation within concomitant initiatives developed on a national or international scale, in order to create synergistic opportunities.
The partnership of ALPHA is a functional team of experts in medical physics, materials science, biophotonics and clinical research on a broad pool of diagnostic and therapeutic methods, and will provide an ideal combination of background knowledge, technical know-how, case scenarios and outreach potential for the greatest scientific and socioeconomic impact.
Data di avvio 16 Ottobre 2023
Data di completamento 16 Ottobre 2025
Total cost €140342,00
Progetto 2022HHZWRS finanziato all’interno del Bando PRIN 2022 di cui al Decreto Direttoriale n. 104 del 02/02/2022 nell’ambito del Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza, Missione 4 – Componente 2. Dalla Ricerca all’Impresa - Investimento 1.1 Fondo per il Programma Nazionale della Ricerca (PNR) e Progetti di Ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN), finanziato dall’Unione europea – NextGenerationEU – CUP B53D23020310006
Ultimo aggiornamento
04.06.2024