Illinois Institute of Technology just named ADEPT Cancer Imager, cancer imaging technology that could give patients an earlier diagnosis and more accurate treatment, as the first finalist for the Nayar Prize, an annual $1 million social innovation competition out of the university.
ADEPT Cancer Imager is developing cancer imaging technology that can more accurately measure the stage of a patient's cancer, as well as identify promising new drugs and treatments during pre-clinical development for more effective and targeted treatment. In the first phase of their project, they created a prototype and applied for a patent. In the second phase of their project, they're exploring clinical applications, such as identifying breast cancer surgery margins. To test the tech, they're teaming up with David Song, a leading breast cancer surgeon at University of Chicago Medicine, and Husain Sattar, an associate professor of pathology also at UChicago Medicine.
ADEPT will receive $200,000 over the next two years to continue research. If they meet their target metrics and benchmarks, they'll be awarded an additional $500,000. Team members (all from Illinois Tech) include Kenneth Tichauer, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and developer behind the scientific basis of the tech; Jovan Brankov, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and an expert in medical imaging; and Rajendra Mehta professor emeritus of biology and an internationally recognized scientist in cancer biology and drug development at IIT Research Institute.
“Our vision is for the ADEPT system to become an essential tool in every hospital’s cancer pathology lab and throughout the drug-development labs of every pharmaceutical company and academic medical center,” said Tichauer in a release. “This will directly prolong the lives of cancer patients and improve their quality of life by identifying cancer early and by enabling life-saving drugs to be brought quickly to the market.”
They were chosen as the only finalist from three teams that were selected for the competition last year. The other teams, which include a early childhood education for at-risk children and a plan for driverless cities, will likely seek outside funding to continue their work, Illinois Tech said.
This is the first finalist for the Nayar Prize, a social innovation competition out of the university that awards $1 million total to university projects that seek to create effective solutions. Illinois Tech announced the second Nayar Prize earlier this month.
