# Fluorescent nanofoldamers for multiplex flow cytometry

> **NIH NIH R44** · NIRVANA SCIENCES, INC. · 2022 · $825,109

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Polychromatic flow cytometry (FC) is a vital analytical technique used in immunology, basic
research, and clinical medicine. FC is an indispensable tool for understanding disease
development at the cellular and subcellular levels and for monitoring the effectiveness of new
immunotherapies by identifying key cellular subpopulations using multiple biomarkers within a
panel. It also has a critical role in growing clinical applications including development of
vaccines for infectious diseases, characterization of immunological cells and responses related
to transplantation and treatment of graft-versus-host disease, and development of vaccines and
immune therapies to prevent and treat HIV infections. Increasing the number of spectrally
distinct fluorophores will give researchers greater flexibility and give clinicians a higher level of
accuracy in the diagnosis and management of conditions where the size of the sample used for
diagnosis is limited or cell number is low, including those derived from fine needle aspiration,
laparoscopy, core biopsy, and cerebrospinal fluid. Improvements in optics and lasers have
driven the recent introduction of new fluorophores for FC. However, most of these possess
broad and often overlapping emission profiles, much like traditional fluorophores. Overlapping
spectra can be resolved by the combined use of bandpass filters and mathematical
compensation (overlap subtraction); however, such compensation increases experiment error,
reduces sensitivity, and limits multiplexing. Thus, even with a prototype 64-color instrument,
leading investigators have only been able to implement a 40-parameter panel – advances in
reader technology have outstripped available capabilities in fluorophores.
NIRvana Sciences is developing two families of tetrapyrrole fluorophores for use in FC. These
fluorophores are excellent candidates for use in polychromatic FC due to their ultra-violet/violet
excitation, long Stoke’s shifts into the red and near-infrared spectrums, and very narrow
emissions. In the current project, NIRvana seeks to complete development of a new technology,
referred to as FluoroPods, that allows us to fully utilize our unique portfolio of dyes. This
polymer-based system enables the use of dyes that possess excellent spectral properties but
lack sufficient water solubility and/or are heavily quenched in biological systems. Upon
completion of the project, NIRvana Sciences will have created a palette of exceptionally bright
FluoroPods that will form the basis of a platform of 22+ new colors using only the 355 and 405
nm lasers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10484531
- **Project number:** 2R44GM131501-02A1
- **Recipient organization:** NIRVANA SCIENCES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Christopher J MacNevin
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $825,109
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2018-09-17 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10484531

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10484531, Fluorescent nanofoldamers for multiplex flow cytometry (2R44GM131501-02A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10484531. Licensed CC0.

---

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