101017Development of heavy metal-free quantum dots for disease diagnosis, bioimaging and therapyClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKWater soluble fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals “quantum dots (QDs)” have been successfully used as tagging agents in biomedical applications. Compared with organic fluorophores, QDs have superior properties that make them excellent tools for addressing challenging biomedical applications that organic dyes and radio isotopes fall short of. However, cadmium in current commercially available QDs prohibits their use in research and medical applications due to the accumulative and toxic properties of this heavy metal. Nanoco has unique patented technology to synthesize heavy metal-free QDs in large quantities and with spectral properties that cover the visible and NIR range. UCL has extensive experience in the treatment and detection of early cancers using fluorescence diagnostic imaging (using porphyrin based compounds) and the expertise of clinical investigators from many specialities. The porphyrins have limited use in surgery as they photobleach unlike the photo-stable QDs. Nanoco will produce water soluble mono-dispersed heavy metal-free QDs with a quantum yield >= 40%. One important output would be a biomedical tracking kit demonstrator. UCL will carry out pharmacokinetic studies of the QDs (fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy). This important assessment of the biodistribution and excretion of QDs would lead to more extensive pre-clinical studies. This would be an iterative process, results from UCL would be fed back to Nanoco to improve the QDs and their resupply would be assessed again. At the end of the project sufficient investigations would have been undertaken to initiate clinical trials at UCL with the wining formulation of QDs.