Bikanta

It's an emission light source or probe that can be directed to specific cells with targeting agents. On our website (www.bikanta.com) you can find links to some of our publications and if you would like more literature and information about nanodiamonds, we'd love to share with you. Email us at info@bikanta.com

We are planning to pursue the SBIR grant route, but there is a lag time in the grant application process and we are eager to supplement our current developmental traction in the meantime with funds from other sources as well.

I'm happy to answer these technical questions. It's nice to share that info as that is what makes them so valuable. The fluorescence comes from nitrogen-vacancy centers. Here is a link showing the excitation and emissions spectrum. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/NVple.JPG

The Stokes shift, as you can see is very large. The quantum yield is 1 and they don't blink. We are initially focusing on stabilized nanodiamonds with various chemical groups put on the surface to have them ready for further conjugation. Email us at info@bikanta.com and I can have a further conversation with you if you would like.

:-) Thanks for that share!

I'm glad you asked! I would encourage you to look at this article where YC recently announced how it will be backing bitechs: http://www.nature.com/news/start-up-investor-bets-on-biotech.... We are excited to see this shift in attitude towards biotech investing and wanted to jump on board early. What makes us a a fit for this is our business strategy that is a closer fit to the "style" of companies that come through YC. For a typical biotech with clinical targets in mind, to bring those to market after FDA approval and clinical trials is a long process with returns being 7-12 years down the line. In our case, there is an identified research tools market that we can tap into first that would make us profitable by next year. By establishing an early source of revenue, we mitigate risk for our investors. Through YC we have a platform and the opportunity to reach wider umbrella of investors to share our story and strategy with.

The in vivo pathologies and applications we are targeting initially are primarily nearer to the surface (i.e metastatic node detection, skin pathologies) or procedures where surgeons can use NIR fluorescence imaging systems that simultaneously display color video and NIR images have been developed for real-time surgical applications. Though this wasn't a focus in today's article, along with in vivo applications, we are working on a number of applications for microscopy and ex vivo diagnostics.

Toxicity concerns are always utmost to consider when developing tools for the clinic! Thus far, all studies regarding nanodiamonds have shown biocompatibility and non-toxicity. Coming from a research background and having done a number of in vivo studies myself, these studies we plan to repeat with each targeted version of the nanodiamond (particle + ligand such as antibody) before reaching the clinic. To clarify, we are at the pre-clinical level currently.

Thanks for the props! We plan to offer a few different sizes of the brightest diamonds possible to our customers. The sizing and separation of the nanodiamonds can be accomplished a few different ways, the challenge is always in preventing aggregation. Bikanta's secret sauce is in our process to stabilize and functionalize the particles, irregardless of what the size and initial residues are on the surface.

these probes can be visualized by standard fluorescence imaing instruments including fluorescence microscopes, TIRF, gel scanners, flow cytometry, optical animal scanners, clinical cameras etc. They also have long fluorescence lifetimes and so can be imaged by fluorescence lifetime instruments. What the article didn't delve into is that because of an additional magnetic sensitivity that the nanodiamonds have, we can improve image quality and imaging deeper into tissue with an additional hardware piece that we can add on to existing systems or in a stand-alone system that is cheaper to be tailored to n=only nanodiamonds. if you want more info on this, I can elaborate or have a chat with you

you are correct, this is primarily targeted to disease states with ligands such as antibodies, aptamers, fab fragments, etc.

that is actually one area of applications we are exploring! I'd love to have a chat with you about it.

These nanodiamonds are cheaper to synthesize than what you find current optical imaging agents on the market for.

both, also for areas such as single molecule imaging

You are correct in the fact that the kidney's are one route of clearance for small agents that are injected. However, these are typically small molecule agents or particles on the lower size range at a couple nms in diameter. To reference a highly sited scientific article from Chemical Rev (Chem. Rev. 2010, 110, 2921–2959), "At 8 nm, observations have been made that hepatic uptake begins to dominate clearance routes, and by 10-12 nm the reticuloendothelial excretion route becomes the dominant route for clearance."

These nanodiamonds range in size from 15-100nm, so the kidneys will not be their primary route of clearance. It is also crucial to note that with any nanoparticle development, coating is a major factor in its biodistribution behavior. Coatings can and have been designed in more recent work regarding nanomedicine that minimize various biodistribution issues.

Hi everyone! I'm Ambika, one of the founders of Bikanta and inventors of this technology. I'd love to answer any questions that you may have. Here is also a link to our website: www.bikanta.com

Thanks for the share from PG's article. We are definite believers that it is possible to detect cancer significantly before symptoms begin to appear!