$2.27M grant will aid preclinical development of cardiac optical imaging system

Nocturnal Product Development (Durham, NC) has received a Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer Program award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH; Bethesda, MD), with George Washington University (GW; Washington, DC) professor of pharmacology and physiology Narine Sarvazyan, Ph.D., as the principal investigator. The $2.27 million award will support ongoing collaborative efforts between Nocturnal and GW to design, produce, and test real-time lesion visualization tools for cardiac ablation procedures.

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The collaboration between Nocturnal and GW was formally captured in the formation of LuxCath, an Allied Minds Company (Boston, MA), dedicated to the development of new imaging technologies for cardiac ablation.

"Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia," Sarvazyan says. "The technology we aim to develop can improve treatment options for the millions of people who suffer from atrial fibrillation and associated morbidities, including increased risk for stroke. It promises to pave the way for faster, safer, and more reliable minimally invasive ablation procedures."

Other researchers involved in this study include Marco Mercader, MD, director of electrophysiology research and associate professor of medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and Murray H. Loew, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering at the GW School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

For more information, please visit www.nocturnalpd.com.