Spark Award Top 5 Finalist
Prof. Leroux and Dr. Davide Brambilla microneedles-based invention developed in collaboration with Prof. Detmar and Dr. Steven Proulx has been selected among the top 5 ETH inventions registered for a patent in 2015.
During the 2016 Spark Award Ceremony held at ETH Audimax our invention has been selected among the top 5 most promising of ETH.
In the recently field patent application we described the design and validation of a microneedles patch able to non-invasively deliver a fluorescent compound within the dermis where it is readily and selectively cleared by the lymphatic system. The continuous monitoring of the fluorescence signal using a simple camera allows the quantitative assessment of lymphatic system functioning in a patient-friendly manner, ameliorating the currently used diagnostic approaches. This innovative concept could find application in several diseases characterized by an altered lymphatic functioning such as lymphedema, chronic wounds and scleroderma.
Link paper (Brambilla D. et al. Small, 2016. DOI: 10.1002/smll.201503093): external page http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.201503093/full
Link video: external page http://youtu.be/e6DPagbsLjU
Link Spark award page: https://www.ethz.ch/en/industry-and-society/inventions-patents-licenses/spark-award.html