Can Near Infrared Nerve-Specific Imaging Improve Surgical Outcomes? presented by Summer Gibbs, PhD

The NCI Cancer Imaging Program presents a monthly webinar series highlighting advancements in our imaging community. Please join us for our next lecture in the series.  

Date: Monday May 4, 1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Location: Virtual, Join by WebEx

Summer Gibbs, Ph.D.
Douglas Strain Endowed Professor
Biomedical Engineering
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR, USA 

Abstract: Fluorescence guided surgery (FGS) is a nascent field, however with ~15,000 clinical FGS system distributed worldwide, its potential to specifically highlight tissues to be resected (e.g., cancer) and avoided (e.g., nerves) has been recognized and there are >125 ongoing clinical trials with novel contrast agents to leverage this clinical imaging technology. Iatrogenic nerve damage is arguably one of the most feared surgical complications as nerve injury is often permanent, leaving patients with pain, loss of function and disability. Near infrared (NIR) nerve-specific contrast agent(s) that are spectrally matched to the existing clinical FGS infrastructure have a direct path to clinical translation with broad surgical applicability. However, development of NIR nerve-specific probes has been a substantial challenge as these probes must be small enough to cross the tight blood nerve barrier, but have a sufficient degree of conjugation (i.e., double bonds, which by definition increase the molecular weight) to reach NIR wavelengths. Through a directed fluorophore medicinal chemistry approach, we have designed and developed first-in-kind, small molecule NIR nerve-specific fluorophores. Our team is currently working towards clinical translation of our novel probes as we explore the utility of nerve imaging for a variety of surgical indications including prostatectomy, neurosurgery, endocrine surgeries, head and neck surgeries and orthopedic indications.

Biosketch: Dr. Gibbs current focus of her laboratory is on the development of novel fluorescent probes to improved macroscopic and microscopic patient-specific imaging. Over the past ten years she has worked towards the development of a near infrared (NIR) nerve-specific contrast agent for clinical translation to guide surgical procedures. She and her team have successfully developed first-in-class NIR nerve-specific small molecule contrast agents that are being clinically translated to aid in nerve identification and visualization during surgery