Browse Technologies

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Inventors at Vanderbilt University have developed a robotic platform capable of guaranteeing a degree of agility, mechanical stability, power, reliability, comparable to a standard robotic platform for laparoscopic surgery, but characterized by a much lower invasiveness.

Methods of hyperpolarization based on parahydrogen have been expanding recently from the early applications in hydrogenation chemistry to biomedical imaging where they are expected to yield similar information as the competing technology, dynamic nuclear polarization, (DNP). These hyperpolarization experiments have already enabled the measurement of metabolism in vivo at temporal resolutions of seconds. When infused into organisms harboring tumor cells, molecules such as pyruvate and lactate have been shown to be sufficiently long-lived to infiltrate cellular metabolic cycles and be converted at different rates in cancer versus normal tissue. DNP has been used most frequently in these early studies, owing to commercial availability and the flexibility to polarize small molecules such as pyruvate and lactate. Techniques based on chemical addition or exchange of parahydrogen have also shown promise for generating metabolic contrast in vivo at similar levels of signal enhancement and at lower costs.

Vanderbilt researchers have developed a novel device for accurately delivering a small aliquot of liquid pharmaceutical agent to a treatment site. This system enables more precise dosage and eliminates expensive waste found in conventional methods.

Various aspects of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have been under study for many years. While the emphasis has been on early identification and early treatment of children with ASD, a sometimes overlooked fact is that ASD children grow up to be teenagers. An essential life skill for teenagers is the ability to drive. However, ASD teens and adults are often prone to certain mistakes in driving and gaze patterns required for driving. Collaborators at Vanderbilt's School of Engineering and the Kennedy Center have created a simulator that is meant to teach ASD teenagers these critical skills.