World Cancer Research Day: Animated Dynamics predicts a cancer drug’s effectiveness
Today, September 24, is World Cancer Research Day. We are pleased to feature Animated Dynamics on The Line.
The company, which licenses technology through the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization, helps improve the results of personalized cancer care. Researchers can use the technology to determine how a specific tumor will respond to chemotherapy even before a patient begins treatment.
The focus and innovation
David D. Nolte, the Edward M. Purcell Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy in Purdue’s College of Science, and John J. Turek, professor of basic medical sciences in Purdue’s College of Veterinary Science, created Biodynamic Imaging technology. Together they founded Animated Dynamics with Ran An, who was then a research assistant working with Nolte.
Biodynamic Imaging technology uses Doppler light scattering, like a weather radar.
“Doppler weather radar sends electromagnetic waves into clouds, and while you don’t see individual rain droplets, you pick up the overall motion of the raindrops. What you create with this is a 3-D map of cloud motion,” Nolte said. “We’re looking at the motion inside living tissue rather than rain droplets, and we’re using infrared light instead of radar. It’s like watching the weather inside living tissue as the tissue is affected by cancer drugs.”
Animated Dynamics’ technology has been tested in several pilot clinical trials. These include ovarian cancer with Northwestern University, esophageal cancer with Indiana University School of Medicine, and breast and bladder cancer with multiple private clinics around the U.S. In all cases, biodynamic imaging was able to distinguish between cancer patients who responded to chemotherapy and those who did not.
The company has received more than $2.9 million in two funding rounds and has received funding from the National Science Foundation and Purdue Foundry.
Q&A with Co-Founder and CSO David Nolte
Question: Building a drug research technology company takes time. How have you remained motivated over the years?
David Nolte: The research is exciting because it is groundbreaking. We are seeing things related to cancer therapy and the physics of light scattering in tissue that no one has seen before. We also get strong motivation knowing that we could improve the quality of cancer care and the quality of life of cancer patients.
Q: What key research and entrepreneurial milestones have strengthened Animated Dynamics?
Nolte: Completing our pilot trials has been a key research milestone that truly demonstrates the clinical utility of our biodynamic imaging. Of course, the key entrepreneurial milestones have revolved around funding and investment.
Q: What are your duties as the Chief Scientific Officer of Animated Dynamics?
Nolte: As CSO I am primarily responsible for the quality control on the data from the commercial biodynamic platforms. I developed all the data analysis algorithms.
Q: What traits should faculty researchers develop if they want to start a company?
Nolte: Openness to talk to lots of potential customers to find out what they really want! This is the key to developing a product that customers will buy. Social aspects like these drive a business, rather than purely the scientific or engineering skills that faculty already are good at. Working fruitfully with a wide variety of people, many of whom are either potential customers or investors, is a skill that is rarely taught to students or faculty.
Q: What are you excited for in the next 5 to 10 years?
Nolte: I would love to see our company bought out by deep pockets who have the resources to launch major clinical trials of biodynamic imaging for personalized cancer therapy.
Q: How have you benefited from the Purdue ecosystem for faculty researchers-entrepreneurs?
Nolte: The Purdue Foundry has been a great resource. The earliest lessons I learned about entrepreneurship came out of the Foundry, and they have been a valuable hub of people and expertise through the years.
