# A sub-cellular micro x-ray fluorescence system for elemental imaging at fast acquisition times in biological tissue

> **NIH NIH R44** · SIGRAY, INC. · 2020 · $632,182

## Abstract

The ability to image elemental distribution and concentrations is increasingly critical to a variety of biomedical
fields. Nearly all fundamental biological pathways have been found to require metal-binding proteins and trace
elements, and an increasing number of pathologies are now linked – or hypothesized to be linked – to trace
element dysregulation, including infertility and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Wilson’s.
Moreover, novel pharmaceuticals comprising metallodrugs and nanoparticle-based treatments are on the rise,
and an improved rational design approach to such drugs necessitates chemical imaging to determine the
uptake and removal mechanisms of such drugs.
Currently, laboratory approaches to elemental imaging are limited to around 10 micrometers, which does not
allow for the critical subcellular elemental understanding that could potentiate breakthrough insights. The
access of researchers to micron-scale resolution chemical imaging is limited to work performed at the
synchrotron, which is a major bottleneck. In this small business innovation and research grant, we propose
several major innovations to develop the first laboratory sub-cellular microXRF for the biomedical
community, opening the path forward for achieving laboratory nanoXRF. The system will achieve micron-scale
resolution at high throughput and will be enabled through several major advances to the x-ray source and x-ray
optics.
The proposed Phase I 6-month project is a proof-of-principle demonstration of the capabilities of the x-ray
focusing optic component. The proposed Phase II 24-month project is to develop a complete prototype sub-
cellular microXRF.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10019577
- **Project number:** 5R44GM133287-03
- **Recipient organization:** SIGRAY, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Wenbing Yun
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $632,182
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10019577

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10019577, A sub-cellular micro x-ray fluorescence system for elemental imaging at fast acquisition times in biological tissue (5R44GM133287-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10019577. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*