Structured around development of a suite of quantitative tissue oxygen sensors to improve patient care and outcomes in oncology, trauma, and tissue health, the principals of Stratagen Bio are usefully understood as having invented a way to make cancer radiation therapy safer and more effective. Committed to develop high impact technologies enabling clinicians to make more informed treatment decisions and improve patient care, Stratagen Bios oxygen sensing technology was developed in labs at MITs Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. The amount of radiation needed to kill a tumor is known to be a function of level of oxygen in the tumor cells and can vary consisterably. To date, however, the means whereby to measure that have not previously be available, Stratagen Bio's sensor for reading tumor oxygen levels offers the capacity to personalize cancer treatment. A prototype for a cancer treatment technique - designated high-dose-rate brachytherapy - involved radioactive seeds through the tubes to suffuse the tumor with radiation, removing them once the desired dose has been delivered. The Stratagen modification added a strip of a recently invented oxygen-sensitive polymer to the tips of a modified version of the catheters. During routine MRI scans, protons in the polymer are excited; these protons return to equilibrium far faster in catheters surrounded by high levels of oxygen than low levels. The speed at which they return to equilibrium can therefore be used to map out how oxygen levels vary in different parts of the tumor, allowing oncologists to pinpoint where radiation doses should go and to tailor their length and intensity to be most effective. Excess radiation however can harm the patient - making critical the need to know where those high doses might be useful. Stratagen Bio's development seems to offer a means to make that decision.
