Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors







Heifer International

Wikipedia Affiliate Button


Home > Press > A Partnership for improved Diagnostics

Chip with insight: silicon photomultipliers could help to locate tumours
in the body more accurately - without the disadvantages and side effects
of other procedures. Credit: MPI for Physics / Masahiro Teshima
Image: MPI for Physics / Masahiro Teshima
Chip with insight: silicon photomultipliers could help to locate tumours in the body more accurately - without the disadvantages and side effects of other procedures. Credit: MPI for Physics / Masahiro Teshima Image: MPI for Physics / Masahiro Teshima

Abstract:
Max Planck Innovation and PerkinElmer conclude a licensing agreement for highly efficient detectors for medical technology

A Partnership for improved Diagnostics

Munich | Posted on August 20th, 2009

In future, it will be possible to detect malignant tumors more rapidly and more reliably - with instruments that combine magnetic resonance tomography and positron emission tomography, two conventional methods in medical diagnostics. The US company PerkinElmer Inc. develops detectors for such instruments, and will be using detector technology developed by astronomers at the Max Planck Institute of Physics for this application. Max Planck Innovation has now concluded a licensing agreement with PerkinElmer that grants the company the exclusive right to use these silicon photomultipliers (SiPM).

Medical diagnosis is often a matter of weighing up the options. This begins with the selection of the right method: Although magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) supplies pinpoint sharp images of organs, bones and connective tissue, it provides no information on the metabolic activity in individual regions. An MRT is therefore not much use when looking for tumors which reveal themselves by their particularly high sugar metabolism. But this is exactly what is detected by positron-emission tomography (PET), although it does not disclose the exact locations of the active cells. Computer tomography, on the other hand, solves this dilemma, but involves additional X-ray exposure for patients.

Detectors used by the Max Planck physicists to detect cosmic gamma radiation are now facilitating the combination of PET and MRT in one instrument. The detectors that positron-emission tomographs normally employ to count photons are not suitable for such a combination because the MRT's strong magnetic field thwarts the detection of photons. Consequently, the first integrated PE and MR tomographs operate with the aid of avalanche photodiodes (APD). These have a much lower sensitivity, are slower and consume more power than the silicon photomultipliers which were originally developed by Russian researchers at the Moscow State Engineering Physics Institute, and have finally been developed further for practical applications by the group of Max Planck researchers headed by Masahiro Teshima and Razmik Mirzoyan.

"We are convinced that the SiPM technology will be very useful in medicine and environmental technology," says Michael Ersoni, Vice President of PerkinElmer and General Manager of the global detection business. PerkinElmer and Max Planck Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer company of the Max Planck Society, have concluded an exclusive licensing agreement for the silicon photomultipliers. However, these highly sensitive detectors could be used wherever it is important to detect the minutest quantities of light. In addition to the PET diagnostic application, Ersoni gives analytical fluorescence measurements as a further example.

"PerkinElmer is the world's leading company for photodetectors and therefore the ideal industrial partner to enable us to introduce the silicon photomultipliers into medical applications and analytical applications for the environment," says Bernd Ctortecka, patent and licensing manager at Max Planck Innovation: "The global operator commands a strong market position, the necessary development capacity and the experience to introduce the technology into a market that is currently undergoing rapid development."


####

About Max Planck Gesellschaft
The research institutes of the Max Planck Society perform basic research in the interest of the general public in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. In particular, the Max Planck Society takes up new and innovative research areas that German universities are not in a position to accommodate or deal with adequately. These interdisciplinary research areas often do not fit into the university organization, or they require more funds for personnel and equipment than those available at universities. The variety of topics in the natural sciences and the humanities at Max Planck Institutes complement the work done at universities and other research facilities in important research fields. In certain areas, the institutes occupy key positions, while other institutes complement ongoing research. Moreover, some institutes perform service functions for research performed at universities by providing equipment and facilities to a wide range of scientists, such as telescopes, large-scale equipment, specialized libraries, and documentary resources.

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
Bernd Ctortecka PhD
Max Planck Innovation, Munich
Tel.: + 49 89 29 09 19-20

Copyright © Max Planck Gesellschaft

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related News Press

News and information

How do cold ions slide May 24th, 2013

Heinrich Rohrer dies at 79; a father of nanotechnology: With IBM colleague Gerd Binnig, Rohrer invented the scanning tunneling microscope, which can show individual atoms on a surface and move them around May 23rd, 2013

Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013

Glowing Plant Releases Maker Kit, Enabling Anyone to Make a Glowing Plant at Home: Glowing Plant seeks funds via crowdfunding and raises almost $400,000 May 23rd, 2013

Possible Futures

Lifeboat publishes its first book: The Lifeboat Foundation has published its first book, "The Human Race to the Future: What Could Happen -- and What to Do" May 14th, 2013

UC Santa Barbara History Professor's Book Elucidates, Celebrates ‘Visioneers' May 14th, 2013

Conceptual Nanomedical Lipofuscin Removal Strategy April 29th, 2013

The Global Desalination Market 2013-2023 April 24th, 2013

Nanomedicine

UofL scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery May 22nd, 2013

Single-Cell Transfection Tool Enables Added Control for Biological Studies: McCormick researchers develop method of delivering molecules into targeted cells May 22nd, 2013

How Gold Nanoparticles Can Help Fight Ovarian Cancer May 21st, 2013

MU Researchers Develop Radioactive Nanoparticles that Target Cancer Cells: This is an early step toward developing therapies for metastasized cancers, MU scientist says May 21st, 2013

Sensors

IDTechEx launches online Market Intelligence Portal May 23rd, 2013

Innovation could bring flexible solar cells, transistors, displays May 22nd, 2013

New Nanopore Sensor Simplifies Analysis of Methylated DNA May 20th, 2013

Imec and Renesas collaborate on ultra-low power short range radios: Collaboration will develop robust wireless solutions for future electronics May 16th, 2013

Announcements

How do cold ions slide May 24th, 2013

Heinrich Rohrer dies at 79; a father of nanotechnology: With IBM colleague Gerd Binnig, Rohrer invented the scanning tunneling microscope, which can show individual atoms on a surface and move them around May 23rd, 2013

Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013

Glowing Plant Releases Maker Kit, Enabling Anyone to Make a Glowing Plant at Home: Glowing Plant seeks funds via crowdfunding and raises almost $400,000 May 23rd, 2013

Tools

Heinrich Rohrer dies at 79; a father of nanotechnology: With IBM colleague Gerd Binnig, Rohrer invented the scanning tunneling microscope, which can show individual atoms on a surface and move them around May 23rd, 2013

Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013

Researchers Stitch Defects into the World’s Thinnest Semiconductor May 22nd, 2013

Whirlpools on the Nanoscale Could Multiply Magnetic Memory: At the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab scientists join an international team to control spin orientation in magnetic nanodisks May 22nd, 2013

Nanobiotechnology

Bacterial spare parts filter antibiotic residue from groundwater May 22nd, 2013

Single-Cell Transfection Tool Enables Added Control for Biological Studies: McCormick researchers develop method of delivering molecules into targeted cells May 22nd, 2013

Researchers Perform Fastest Measurements Ever Made of Ion Channel Proteins May 20th, 2013

Artificial Forest for Solar Water-Splitting: Berkeley Lab Researchers Report First Fully Integrated Artificial Photosynthesis Nanosystem May 17th, 2013

Alliances/Partnerships/Distributorships

Imec and GLOBALFOUNDRIES collaborate to advance high-density memory technology: STT-MRAM offers enhanced performance and scalability for embedded and standalone applications May 21st, 2013

NIA Public Briefing: Nanotechnology and the Council of Europe May 17th, 2013

Imec and Renesas collaborate on ultra-low power short range radios: Collaboration will develop robust wireless solutions for future electronics May 16th, 2013

HELIOS Program Develops Complete Supply Chain for Integrating Photonics with CMOS Circuit via IC Fabrication Processes May 14th, 2013

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE





  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoTech-Transfer
University Technology Transfer & Patents
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More












ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project








abbigliamento uomo
Computer Accessories
© Copyright 1999-2013 7th Wave, Inc. All Rights Reserved PRIVACY POLICY :: CONTACT US :: STATS :: SITE MAP :: ADVERTISE