The Rutgers-Cleveland Clinic Consortium of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine has funded the development of this technology with hopes to treat injured service members suffering from significant bone damage due to battlefield explosions, such as from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). If successful, the scaffold could someday treat both military and civilian patients suffering from large bone defects, non-union fractures, or severe bone loss. ImageIQ will enable the NJCBM and its partners to more accurately and precisely evaluate the efficacy of the new biomaterial scaffold, in addition to saving significant time and investment associated with developing appropriate clinical end point metrics for a future clinical study.
In assisting Rutgers, ImageIQ will utilize its extensive image analysis, software engineering and preclinical and clinical imaging expertise to develop and provide micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) imaging and volumetric image analysis methods which have been custom-tailored for the Rutgers study. ImageIQ will generate high resolution 3-dimensional data and visualizations of the biomaterial, scaffold and local tissue to quantitatively assess new bone growth in and around the implantable scaffold. ImageIQ will also develop and validate bone growth performance metrics which can be translated from high resolution preclinical Micro-CT to lower resolution clinical computed tomography (CT). ImageIQ provides custom-tailored preclinical and clinical imaging analytics, software engineering and image visualization services for research, medical device and pharmaceutical organizations.
“We chose ImageIQ for their clinical lineage and history of excellence in providing application-specific imaging and image analysis for orthopedic research and development,” said Dr. Joachim Kohn, Ph.D., Director of the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials and the Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry at Rutgers University. “The sophistication of our biomaterials and scaffold research and development programs requires cutting-edge imaging analytics, and a solid understanding of bone biology. Pairing our research staff with the ImageIQ engineers enhances our ability to generate robust, quantitative, clinically relevant data, and maximizes our chances for success.”
“Our work with Dr. Kohn’s team at NJCBM is a textbook example of how application-specific imaging analytics is advancing the science of bone regeneration, and quickly becoming the new standard for assessing the performance of medical devices, especially orthopedic implantables,” said Dr. Amit Vasanji, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer at ImageIQ. “We have a great deal of experience in applying 3D imaging and image analytics to improve bone tissue scaffold R&D timelines, reduce costs and enhance study end points and performance measurements. For this particular study, our utilization of custom-tailored Micro-CT imaging and image analysis will give the research team greater insight into how their scaffold and biomaterial are performing. The team will be able to assess which end point measurements can reliably translate to a clinical study.”
The NJCBM will leverage ImageIQ’s more than a decade worth of experience using software engineering to custom-tailor imaging and image analysis techniques for a broad range of orthopedic biomaterial and scaffold research and development programs. ImageIQ garnered this experience during its tenure within Cleveland Clinic, where it functioned as the Biomedical Imaging and Analysis Core.
“Our work with ImageIQ underscores the need for a specialized approach to researching and developing new products for tissue regeneration,” commented Dr. Kohn. “The complex nature of assessing the ability of new biomaterials and scaffolds to integrate into the body and regenerate new tissue requires a more custom-tailored tactic for utilizing imaging analytics. Combining our many years of biomaterial and scaffold R&D experience with ImageIQ’s expertise in adapting imaging and image analytics to maximize data precision and accuracy will improve our ability to develop a new tissue engineering technology, which can help many patients suffering from traumatic bone loss.”
About ImageIQ
ImageIQ is an Imaging Contract Research Organization (ICRO) that combines software engineering with biomedical and imaging expertise to provide quantitative visual analysis that enhances R&D and product efficacy/safety testing for research, medical device and pharmaceutical organizations. Incubated within Cleveland Clinic for the better part of a decade, ImageIQ provides customized image analytics and reporting, delivering objective quantitative evidence that speeds time to discovery and market entry, reduces internal overhead and improves grant proposal attractiveness and fundability. By advancing the speed of research, ImageIQ partners can extend their expertise and abilities and complete work quickly, allowing innovative staff members to focus on creative solutions to new product research and development.
www.Image-IQ.com
About the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials at Rutgers University
The New Jersey Center for Biomaterials (NJCBM) is one of the leading academic research groups to address the challenges of biomaterials discovery and optimization through a rational approach. The Center’s comprehensive program is built around four major strategic goals: 1) Research Excellence, 2) Education & Workforce Development, 3) Partnerships with Industry and 4) Advancement of New Technologies toward Commercialization. The NJCBM has been an entrepreneurial organization since its establishment in 1997, and has always sought diverse partners and generated outstanding synergies among them. The NJCBM has invested both human resources and discretionary funds to seed new projects, and has taken calculated risks around its technologies to produce outcomes that are beginning to improve medical care.
Beth Strohbusch
Public Relations Counsel
(o) 414-259-3983
(c) 414-213-8818
bstrohbusch@wi.rr.com
