The PI and his group have developed an innovative technology named Multi-spectral Apparatus for Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (MANTA) for accurate characterization of nanoparticle concentrations and sizes in an unperturbed state, which is relevant for many applications and research areas; for instance medical, pharmaceutical, biochemical, physical and environmental. Tests with nanoparticle standards demonstrate that MANTA outperforms existing commercial technologies. The superior performance of MANTA is due to novel approaches including sample illumination and video recording of nanoparticle Brownian motion and to proprietary algorithms and software for analysis of video data. MANTA is capable of providing information on nanoparticles meeting outstanding needs not currently met by the existing technologies and that affects a broad variety of industrial sectors/applications which utilize nanotechnology, such as manufacturing diagnostics, the printing, drilling, and milling industries, and the production of cosmetics, pigments, inks, catalysts, and textiles.
Because measurements of concentration and size distribution of nanoparticles are essential to many applications as stated above, a range of potential customers for MANTA technology is large and diverse with no single typical customer profile. MANTA ensures that the concentration and size of nanoparticles are accurately determined over a broad range of nanoparticle sizes. The innovative solutions of MANTA thus represent a transformative advancement in the area of nanoparticle analysis and a major competitive advantage over existing technologies. The team expects that MANTA will have transformative effects in a broad range of health and environmental applications, including the diagnosis of disease and pathological conditions, development of efficient and specific therapies, environmental risk assessment, food safety, and occupational health and safety risk management strategies.
into a commercially-viable product and its introduction to the marketplace. Our team participated in the I-Corps Workshop April 7-9, 2014 in Bethesda, MD, with a primary purpose to attend lectures during the workshop and conduct interviews with potential customers and influencers in the DC area. We had a also a meeting with researchers and regulators from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Silver Spring, where we made a presentation about our innovative technique for nanoparticle characterization and discussed the applicability of our invention in the area of drug development and evaluation. The FDA confirmed that traditional methods may not be adequate for nanoparticle characterization and expressed interest in our novel technology and collaborating with us to test samples of bodily fluids with our instrumentation. We also received useful feedback from FDA including the introduction to Nanomedicines Alliance and National Cancer Institute. Our introduction to Nanomedicines Alliance allowed us to develop relationships with several pharmaceutical and nanotechnology companies which are interested in our technology. These relationships provided a major contribution to the validation of market needs and novel solutions provided by our invention. .
