Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Interstitial, LLC

University of Illinois

Susan Carol Hagness

Nader Behdad

Barry Van Veen

Paul Francis Laeseke

John H Booske

Hans W Sollinger

Tausif Alam

Erik Aiken

Jack E Bridges

Hung Thanh Luyen

Essex Julian Bond

Yahya Mohtashami

Allen Taflove

Joshua Medow

Jennifer T Bernhard

Gregory Hilding Huff

Xu Li

Debra Laefer

Milica Popovic

Alan Sahakian

Shakti K Davis

Allen Taflov

David W Winters

Earl Zastrow

Barry Dean Van Veen

A 'localizable' systemic gene therapy system is provided substantially increasing the transfection efficiency of the gene vectors into targeted tissue cells and substantially reducing the escape of the gene vectors from the targeted tissue volume, such as would waste the vectors, promote undesired immune reactions, and/or incur prohibitive costs for the required dose of gene-containing virus vectors. In this regard, the invention provides a means to simultaneously achieve local electroporation and gene-containing vector injection in a portion of a vascularized organ. It includes two double-balloon catheters that create contained volumes in parallel blood vessels for the introduction of vectors with reduced loss along with electrodes providing electroporation of the cells in the same location where the vectors are injected.

In vivo gene therapy delivery procedure and device

In vivo therapeutic delivery procedure and device

An antenna system is provided that includes a coaxial cable, an antenna, a reflector wall, and a slot wall. The reflector wall is formed of a conductive material connected to a conductive shield to extend in an axial direction, is separated from an antenna conductor by a second dielectric material in a radial direction relative to the antenna conductor, and partially surrounds the antenna conductor in the radial direction from a first angle to a second angle when projected into a radial plane. The slot wall is formed through a portion of the conductive shield to expose a dielectric material from a third angle to a fourth angle when projected into the radial plane, is formed on a first side relative to a base. The first angle, the second angle, the third angle, and the fourth angle are defined relative to a common axis parallel to the radial plane.

Microwave ablation antenna system with reflector and slot

An antenna system is provided. The antenna system includes a coaxial cable, an antenna, and an impedance matching structure. The coaxial cable includes a center conductor extending a length of the coaxial cable, a dielectric material surrounding the center conductor along the length of the coaxial cable, and a conductive shield surrounding the dielectric material along the length of the coaxial cable. The antenna includes a conductor having an electrical length of half a wavelength at a selected operating frequency. The impedance matching structure includes a second center conductor mounted between an end of the center conductor of the coaxial cable and a feed end of the antenna. The impedance matching structure is configured to match an impedance of the coaxial cable to an impedance of the antenna.

Microwave ablation antenna system

An antenna includes a first dipole arm and a second dipole arm. The first dipole arm is connected to a first conductor and is formed of a first conducting material. The first dipole arm extends in an axial direction from the first conductor. The second dipole arm is connected to a second conductor that is distinct from the first conductor and is formed of a second conducting material. The second dipole arm extends in the axial direction from the second conductor and is wound around the first dipole arm to form a number of loops. The second dipole arm does not contact the first dipole arm. An axial length of the second dipole arm in the axial direction is less than 90% of an axial length of the first dipole arm in the axial direction.

Dipole antenna for microwave ablation

A balun includes a center conductor, a dielectric material, a tapered wall, a ring, and a prong. The center conductor extends a length of the balun. The dielectric material surrounds the center conductor along the length of the balun. The tapered wall forms a portion of a tube between a first wall and a second wall. The first wall is opposite the second wall. The tapered wall is formed of a conductive material. The portion of the tube forms a slot exposing the dielectric material. The ring connects to the second wall of the tapered wall and is formed of the conductive material. The ring forms a tube surrounding the center conductor and the dielectric material. The prong connects to the ring to extend toward the first wall and is formed of the conductive material. The prong extends over a portion of the dielectric material exposed by the slot.

Microwave ablation antenna system with tapered slot balun

A microwave hyperthermia treatment system employs a set of antennas individually controllable to provide different phase and amplitude outputs and controlled to cycle through different sets of phases and amplitudes over time to minimize the effect of hotspots formed by any given set of phases and amplitudes and creating limiting high temperatures outside of a desired treatment area.

Microwave hyperthermia treatment system

Microwave examination of individuals is carried out by transmitting microwave signals from multiple antenna locations into an individual and receiving the backscattered microwave signals at multiple antenna locations to provide received signals from the antennas. The received signals are processed to remove the skin interface reflection component of the signal and the corrected signal data are provided to a hypothesis testing process. In hypothesis testing for detecting tumors, image data are formed from the test statistic used to perform a binary hypothesis test at each voxel. The null hypothesis asserts that no tumor is present at a candidate voxel location. The voxel threshold is determined by specifying a false discovery rate to control the expected proportion of false positives in the image. When the test statistic value associated with a voxel is greater than the threshold, the null hypothesis is rejected and the test statistic is assigned to the voxel. For voxels where the test statistic falls below the threshold, the null hypothesis is accepted and the voxel value is set to zero. The resulting image indicates the locations or other characteristics of detected tumors.

Microwave-based examination using hypothesis testing

A system and a method are provided for estimating the average dielectric properties of a plurality of regions in space. The application of this technique is illustrated for determining the average properties of breast tissue. The knowledge of average properties is important when UWB microwave radar signal processing algorithms are used for tumor detection and localization. The method is an extension of a time-domain inverse scattering algorithm based on the finite-difference time-domain method. A hybrid conjugate gradient optimization is used to minimize a cost function defined between a measured and a calculated total electromagnetic field at a series of antennas. The output of the method is an average set of electromagnetic material parameters that describe specific regions of interest in either a non-dispersive heterogeneous medium or a dispersive heterogeneous medium.

Time domain inverse scattering techniques for use in microwave imaging

A method and a system of determining a surface location defining an interface between an object to image and an antenna is provided. The method uses geometric principles and the fact that an impedance mismatch at the interface results in significant reflection. A propagation time from the surface to each antenna of a plurality of antennas is estimated. The propagation time locates the surface on a circle centered at each antenna and having a radius calculated using the propagation time. A tangent line connects the intersection of adjacent circles with the surface. The surface is estimated to be located at the tangent point where the circle and the shared tangent line between adjacent antennas intersect. Multiple tangent points may be averaged for each interior antenna. A curve is fit to the set of tangent points to provide an estimate of the surface location.

Surface identification using microwave signals for microwave-based detection of cancer

Microwave imaging via space-time beamforming is carried out by transmitting microwave signals from multiple antenna locations into an individual to be examined and receiving the backscattered microwave signals at multiple antenna locations to provide received signals from the antennas. The received signals are processed in a computer to remove the skin interface reflection component of the signal at each antenna to provide corrected signal data. The corrected signal data is provided to a beamformer process that time shifts the received signals to align the returns from a scatterer at a candidate location, and then passes the time aligned signals through a bank of filters, the outputs of which are summed, time-gated and the power therein calculated to produce the beamformer output signal at a candidate location. The beamformer is then scanned to a plurality of different locations in the individual by changing the time shifts, filter weights and time-gating of the beamformer process. The output power may be displayed as a function of scan location, with regions of large output power corresponding to significant microwave scatterers such as malignant lesions.

Space-time microwave imaging for cancer detection

One embodiment of the present invention provides several electromagnetic radiation reflectors within a volume that contains solid portions subject to movement relative to one another. At least a portion of the reflectors are positioned beneath one or more of the solid portions and move in response to movement of at least some of the solid portions. The volume is irradiated with electromagnetic radiation having one or more frequencies in a range from one kHz through one THz, and a reflection is detected of at least a portion of the electromagnetic radiation from each of the reflectors in response to this irradiation. Movement among the solid objects is evaluated from the reflection of each of the reflectors, which includes determining a spatial orientation of each one of the reflectors as a function of at least one of polarization selectivity and frequency selectivity.

Material movement sensing techniques

A non-invasive method to detect vascularization associated with one or more malignant tumors in living tissue of a living organism, where dielectric properties of the vascularization are different than dielectric properties of normal living tissue. In one embodiment, a non-ionizing input wave within a wide band frequency range is generated, and the input wave is applied to a field excitation antenna to illuminate a discrete volume within the living tissue of the living organism and to develop scattered power returns from the discrete volume. A receiving antenna then collects at least a portion of the scattered power returns. The scattered power returns are detected and then applied to a signal processor to develop a segregated signal, which is then processed in order to identify the vascularization associated with one or more malignant tumors.

Microwave discrimination between malignant and benign breast tumors

A microwave antenna for use in a system for detecting an incipient tumor in living tissue such as that of a human breast in accordance with differences in relative dielectric characteristics. In the system a generator produces a non-ionizing electromagnetic input wave of preselected frequency, usually exceeding three gigahertz, and that input wave is used to irradiate a discrete volume in the living tissue with a non-ionizing electromagnetic wave. The illumination location is shifted in a predetermined scanning pattern. Scattered signal returns from the living tissue are collected and processed to segregate skin tissue scatter and to develop a segregated backscatter or return wave signal; that segregated signal, in turn, is employed to detect any anomaly indicative of the presence of a tumor or other abnormality in the scanned living tissue. The present invention is directed to a composite Maltese Cross or bow-tie antenna construction employed to irradiate the living tissue and to collect backscatter or other scatter returns.

Growing community of inventors

Madison, WI, United States of America

Susan Carol Hagness