Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT) brings a revolution to bio-optical imaging. Being insensitive to photon scattering, MSOT dramatically improves upon conventional bio-optic barriers by enabling (1) three-dimensional high-resolution optical imaging deep inside tissues (several millimetres to centimetres), by (2) high-scalability, ranging from optical-resolution microscopy to acoustic-resolution optical mesoscopy and macroscopy and by (3) novel label-free anatomical, physiological and molecular contrast at the tissue and single-cell-level, based on spectrally-resolved optical absorption. MSOT, originally supported by an ERC Advanced Award (2008) (TUM: Prof. Ntziachristos), is already commercialized by iThera Medical for macroscopy with systems sold around the world for small animal imaging. In parallel, ERC MSOT funding developed a mesoscopic implementation, termed raster-scan optoacoustic mesoscopy (RSOM), which has demonstrated innovative imaging capacity at 1-5mm depths. Driven by leading dermatologists (TUM: Prof. Biedermann; SUR: Prof. Costanzo) and market leader SMEs in optoacoustic and ultrasound technology (iThera, Rayfos, Sonaxis), INNODERM will design and prototype a handheld, portable, scalable, label-free RSOM device for point-of care dermatology applications, based on recommendations developed under an ERC proof of concept grant (2013) on MSOT. INNODERM brings together key photonic & ultrasound technologies and will validate the technical and economic viability of RSOM in dermatology suites for fast diagnosis and skin disease monitoring. RSOM can go beyond the abilities of current optical or optoacoustic devices and offer a paradigm shift in dermatology imaging, substantiating successful business cases.

FBI fosters education of ESRs on an emerging, multimodal imaging platform and its translation into clinical and biological applications. In FBI, 15 ESRs are trained at world-leading European academic institutions and companies, thus forming strong interdisciplinary relations between industry, technical sciences and clinical end-users. Optical imaging has huge potential to address unmet clinical needs by combining non-invasive and real-time capture of biomedical information; thus enabling earlier onset of treatment, reduced therapy costs, reduced recurrence rates, and improved clinical outcomes. Up to now, optical modalities were applied as standalone techniques each targeting one biomarker. Recently it has been shown that diagnosis is significantly improved by combining different contrast mechanisms simultaneously in a multimodal approach, i.e., staging and grading of lesions is feasible. FBI proposes to combine a selection of modalities depending on the targeted disease. Suspicious lesions are analysed with optical coherence tomography, optoacoustic tomography, multi-photon tomography, and Raman spectroscopy to provide morphological, label-free microangiography, and intrinsic biochemical information, respectively. An important issue is the need for endoscopy: combining said modalities into endoscopes is challenging due to the integration of different imaging concepts, scanning and detection methods, and laser sources. Accordingly, there is a huge need for effectively translating these technical solutions to industry and clinics, which traditionally is restricted by lack of understanding of applications or limited knowledge of new technology. All these barriers are addressed by FBI through research and development of novel photonic components and systems, through educating ESRs in understanding clinical, biological and commercial challenges, and through developing tailored technical solutions and efficient translation of technology within a strong network.

EUPHORIA will pave the way to establish MSOT (Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography) technology for the non-invasive assessment of intestinal inflammation in patients. EUPHORIA will enable commercialization of the technology by finalizing technical improvements that will increase diagnostic outcome beyond what has been shown in a first feasibility study, will improve usability, prepare CE marking for the new device and validate clinical results in a large clinical study. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic condition, posing significant burden to patients and health care systems. Patients suffer from a relapsing course of intestinal inflammation, and to date, there is no satisfying non-invasive diagnostic modality for monitoring disease activity. In a recent clinical study conducted by University Hospital Erlangen, MSOT, a technology developed by iThera Medical (ITM), has proven to be superior in diagnostic performance to other procedures. Imasonic (IMA) and RayFos (RFO) are ideally positioned to drive the technical improvement steps: Imasonic, an expert in ultrasound transducer manufacturing, will develop an ultrasound detector with higher signal-to-noise ratio to enable better sensitivity and detection at depth. RayFos specializes on real-time sensing and image inversion, processing and rendering and has significant experience in optoacoustic tomography algorithms and implementation. iThera Medical will lead the incorporation into the device, CE marking and commercialization. The University Hospital Erlangen is an excellence center in IBD and will drive the clinical validation. Pintail has extensive project management, dissemination and commercialization expertise.

SWOPT is a novel imaging technology that will break through the penetration limits of optical microscopy to visualize individual cells and their function in vivo through several millimeters to centimeters of depth. SWOPT will exploit (1) optoacoustic imaging (OAI), a modality which combines signal generation similar to optical imaging with the whole-animal imaging capability of ultrasound readout, and uniquely augment it with (2) photoswitching to resolve signals from single labeled cells from deep within live tissue. This will achieve volume sampling abilities surpassing any optical microscopy by at least three orders of magnitude (> 5 x 5 x 5 mm imaging volume). SWOPT will develop the necessary breakthrough instrumentation and concepts: unique multiplexed diode illumination, novel ultra-wideband transducer technology, dedicated inversion algorithms that incorporate photoswitching in the three-dimensional reconstructions, and uniquely tailored classes of photo-switching transgene and synthetic molecular tools. The exceptional capabilities of SWOPT will be demonstrated by proof-of-concept work resolving cellular dynamics and functions in a whole tumor in a model of renal cancer in vivo. SWOPT builds on the world-leading expertise in the disciplines of OA imaging technology (Ntziachristos GER), applied mathematics (Unser CH), and cancer metabolism (Frezza UK) and is driven by excellent young researchers in protein-engineering (Stiel GER) and chemical synthesis (Szymanski NL) and supported by the science-to-technology focus of ambitious high-tech SMEs (Sonaxis FRA, iThera GER, Spear GER). SWOPT’s uniquely comprehensive, yet detailed imaging will enable examination of whole tissues in vivo with the same ease, flexibility and, eventually, abundance of tools paralleling fluorescence microscopy, thus bringing research and understanding of living organisms to the next level. As an affordable imaging technology, SWOPT aspires to become routine in life science and bio-medical research.