Better lung imaging to map where inhaled medicines and particles go
Official title: A prospective study to support validation of lung deposition models with nuclear medicine imaging methods
Funded at Fluidda, INC. · NIH-11187064 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will use advanced PET or SPECT scans combined with CT maps to show where inhaled particles deposit in people's lungs.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Fluidda, INC. NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | September 5, 2023 |
| Project end | August 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $331,782 |
| NIH project number | 5U01FD007987-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11187064 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adults who can safely undergo PET or SPECT imaging and inhalation of a tracer, including people with airway conditions like asthma or COPD as well as healthy volunteers.
✕Less likely to help
People who are pregnant, unable to tolerate imaging (for example severe claustrophobia), or who cannot safely receive a radiotracer may not be eligible and would not gain direct benefit from participation.
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will use a safe radiotracer and high-resolution PET or SPECT scans to image how inhaled particles travel and settle in the airways. They will combine those nuclear images with CT-based maps of your lung anatomy to pinpoint deposition down to small airway branches and segments. The team will refine imaging protocols to get clearer, faster pictures than older methods and adjust analyses to reflect disease-related airway differences. The work is being done with regulatory input to make the results useful for improving computer models and future inhaled therapies.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help make inhaled medicines more effective and safer by showing exactly where doses reach in healthy and diseased lungs.
How similar studies have gone: Related nuclear imaging and CT-based mapping methods have been used before to study lung deposition, but this project applies newer PET/SPECT resolution and refined CT segmentation to reach smaller airways and improve accuracy.
Where this research is happening
-
Fluidda, INC.
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lavon, Benjamin — Fluidda, INC.
- Study coordinator: Lavon, Benjamin
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.