Browse Technologies

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Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a technique to enhance immune cell activation by exposing cells to mechanical force while culturing. Proof-of-concept data indicate that activating immune cells with this method may improve therapeutic efficacy and reduce manufacturing expenses, making powerful CAR T cell therapies more accessible to patients in need.

There is currently no radiotherapy phantom capable of quantitatively assessing all components of an online adaptive radiotherapy (online ART) system in a comprehensive end-to-end test.Represented here is a novel, rigid phantom that can simultaneously evaluate an online ART system's image acquisition, deformable image registration, contour propagation, plan re-optimization, dose calculation, and beam delivery in a single process that is robust, quantitative, and convenient.

Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. While screening programs have had a tremendous impact on reducing mortality, the majority of cases occur in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). Typically, screening for gastric and esophageal cancer is performed using a flexible endoscope; however, endoscopy resources for these settings are traditionally limited. With the development of an inexpensive, disposable system by Vanderbilt researchers, gastroscopy and colonoscopy can be facilitated in areas hampered by a lack of access to the appropriate means.

Researchers at Vanderbilt have created a new approach to produce uniform radio frequency (RF) fields in the body during high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Existing high field MRI machines create non-uniform RF fields that lead to non-uniform sensitivity in the generated images, also referred to as "hot" and "cold" spots. These local variations interfere with the tissue contrast of the images that radiologists depend upon to make accurate diagnoses. By generating uniform RF fields in the body, this technology provides the benefits of high field MRI without the non-uniform RF fields.