ClearLight Diagnostics and the OHSU Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine Collaborate to Define Tumor Microenvironment in Pancreatic Cancer

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ClearLight Diagnostics, LLC (ClearLight), a developer of next generation tissue processing and 3D imaging platforms, announced today that it has signed a collaboration agreement with the Oregon Health & Science University Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine (OCSSB) to study the tumor microenvironment in patients with cancer.

Working with researchers at OCSSB, ClearLight will utilize proprietary methods for tissue processing and 3D light-sheet microscopy, to develop biomarkers to map key aspects of the microenvironment of human pancreatic cancer.  Stromal-immune interactions are poorly defined in malignancies, due to the loss of 3D spatial information by standard 2D immunohistochemistry methods. Pancreatic tumors are an excellent model for this study because they characteristically exhibit a reactive stroma and strong immune infiltration and yet have poor clinical outcomes.  Recent discoveries in pancreatic cancer drug development have elevated the importance of precisely defining this microenvironment to develop therapies and diagnostics that are more predictive of clinical outcome.  Currently available technologies have limited capability to spatially characterize tumor microenvironments.

"As we launch our first academic collaboration, we are excited to have the unique opportunity to work with researchers at OHSU to leverage their expertise in cancer biology," said Laurie Goodman, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of ClearLight Diagnostics. "We will apply ClearLight's next generation tissue processing and imaging technology to this work to make new discoveries in the understanding of pancreatic cancer."

The collaboration between ClearLight and OHSU demonstrates a commitment to convert research discovery to clinical application.

"Pancreatic cancers are notoriously difficult to treat," said Joe Gray, Ph.D., Director, OCSSB and Associate Director for Biophysical Oncology, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. "We believe that tumor-microenvironment interactions strongly influence therapeutic response.  We look forward to working with ClearLight Diagnostics to identify resistance-associated interactions through 3D analysis of pancreatic cancers. We hope to use this information to devise therapeutic approaches that counter microenvironmental mediated resistance."

Founded by Karl Deisseroth M.D., Ph.D., ClearLight is developing a product platform based on the CLARITY lipid-clearing technique developed by Dr. Deisseroth and colleagues at Stanford University. This technique enables the transformation of tissue into a nanoporous, hydrogel-hybridized form that is crosslinked to a three-dimensional network of hydrophilic polymers. The process produces a fully assembled, intact tissue, which is permeable to macromolecules and optically transparent, thus allowing for robust three-dimensional imaging of subcellular components (DNA, RNA and protein) and heterogeneous cellular interactions within the tumor microenvironment.  This technology, paired with the development of a tissue imaging platform that includes the revolutionary microscopy method, COLM (CLARITY Optimized Light-sheet Microscopy) will enable unprecedented depth and acceleration of image collection from lipid-cleared samples interrogated with biomolecules.

About ClearLight Diagnostics

ClearLight Diagnostics is a technology development company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative technologies to significantly improve the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of diseases with an initial focus in oncology. Visit www.clearlightdx.com

Contact:

Sarah McCurdy
Email 
(510) 470-5042

SOURCE ClearLight Diagnostics

Related Links

http://www.clearlightdx.com