Federal Grant Award Summary

The University of Pennsylvania received a $415,623 Project Grant from the National Cancer Institute under the Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research Program (CFDA 93.394), awarded on April 16, 2026, with a completion date of March 31, 2028. This grant supports the development of a low-cost, continuous-flow hyperpolarized imaging device designed to advance metabolic imaging capabilities using solution-state hyperpolarization technology. The primary deliverable is a device capable of producing highly polarized agents suitable for continuous infusion in preclinical research settings, including in vitro cell culture and small animal studies, while operating at tracer concentrations rather than the high concentrations previously required.

The research demonstrates the utility of this technology through comparative metabolic studies using SNU-449 adherent cells and induced tumors in immunocompromised mice under various experimental conditions. By enabling continuous infusion at lower concentrations, the device addresses previous limitations of hyperpolarization technology by avoiding transporter saturation, metabolic enzyme saturation, and cofactor pool depletion while allowing greater safe total doses and supporting traditional magnetic resonance imaging contrast techniques such as metabolite signal saturation, inversion, and diffusion encoding. This advancement represents a significant step toward making metabolic imaging a practical diagnostic tool for detecting abnormal metabolism characteristic of disease states at earlier stages than conventional anatomical imaging methods.