Armed with a prestigious federal grant, University of Florida engineering professor Laura Kim, Ph.D., and her research team will develop technology to detect early-stage endometriosis.
Kim, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, or ECE, was granted a Trailblazer Award from the National Institute of Health, or NIH, to develop a minimally invasive diamond-based quantum sensing platform capable of detecting subtle magnetic signals at the microscopic level. These signals could provide a new way to diagnose endometriosis earlier and more accurately.
“Endometriosis is a debilitating inflammatory disease that affects one in 10 women and currently lacks reliable noninvasive diagnostic tools,” Kim said. “Our goal is to engineer quantum sensors that can measure biological signatures that have previously been extremely difficult to access. By bringing that capability to endometriosis, we hope to enable earlier and more quantitative detection while establishing a broadly applicable platform for magnetic and metabolic diagnostics in women’s health.”
At the heart of the project is an engineering challenge: translating the extraordinary sensitivity of quantum systems into a practical tool for measuring biological tissues. Kim will apply her quantum-sensor technology into biomedical research for the first time, with endometriosis serving as an important first clinical application and with the support of her interdisciplinary research team.
“As engineers, we develop powerful technologies, but we need to understand the problems that matter to the people who will ultimately use them,” Kim said. “That is what makes this collaboration so exciting. We are bringing together quantum sensing, biomedical engineering and clinical expertise to solve a problem none of us could address alone.”
With the cross-college collaboration, Kim is working with Jon Dobson, Ph.D., the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Emeritus Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Amira Quevedo, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the College of Medicine.
“Investigators with different backgrounds often bring unique perspectives to bear on a problem, especially when it is outside their specific area of expertise,” Dobson said. “This project would not have been possible without combining Dr. Kim’s exceptionally innovative technology with Dr. Quevedo's passion for helping her patients and knowledge of endometriosis.”
Quevedo acts as the primary clinical researcher on the project. Within her role, Quevedo will determine the best approach to evaluate and integrate Kim’s technology using tissue from participants with endometriosis, while facilitating recruitment through the UF Health Center of Excellence in Complex Endometriosis Care.
“Dr. Kim’s innovative technology has the potential to fundamentally change how endometriosis is diagnosed, shifting us from a predominantly hospital-based diagnosis that requires abdominal surgery and general anesthesia toward a simplified, clinic-based approach that could ultimately be incorporated into an outpatient gynecologic visit,” Quevedo said.
She said working with Kim, Dobson and students on the team provides a phenomenal opportunity to examine endometriosis with a new lens.
“Bringing together our strengths as collaborators allows us to ask questions and develop solutions that would not otherwise be possible. Patients constantly ask me why their endometriosis was not detected sooner,” said Quevedo. “Earlier diagnosis creates an opportunity for earlier access to effective therapies, less cumulative disease burden and ultimately better quality of life for people living with endometriosis,”
The NIH award will span three years.