Our company, Superlative Biosciences LLC is a Manlius, NY-based life sciences products and services small business.

Superlative Biosciences LLC is developing diagnostics and therapeutics for human basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. This skin cancer group comprises the most diagnosed cancers worldwide of all cancer types. Our project involves product development for a Virtual Reality Skin Cancer Screening, Immersive Viewing, and Analyses System.

We are interested in pursuing the further development of Superlative Biosciences confocal virtual reality (VR) 3-dimensional (3-D) immersive system for the diagnosis and analyses of human skin cancer tumors.

In short, our 3-D Skin Cancer Virtual Reality (VR) Assessment System would be an immersive viewing and analysis system for the skin. Researchers will be able to project cell images from normal and diseased tissue into a VR space, see detailed images of internal structure and the distribution of specific disease markers.

Also, interactions between multiple cells in the tumor microenvironment would be monitored by the system, e.g., melanoma tumor cell interactions with stroma, blood supplying tissues, and immune cells. Basal cell carcinoma and sarcoma cell skin tumor environments will also be analyzed.

A minimal viable product (MVP) would be produced and assembled along with software for Research Investigators as an add-in to a confocal microscope with 3-D immersive viewing of the skin and manipulation of the skin surface positioning using tactic sensors and a VR headset.

A more comprehensive system will also be produced for clinical viewing by physicians and other healthcare workers after FDA approval as a 510(k) or DeNovo medical device. This will include not only confocal microscopy 3D imaging of the skin but also the temporal and spatial mapping of signal pathway molecules within the skin tumor environment revealed through confocal microscopy, immersive VR imaging, and resonance Raman surface spectroscopy. Determinations can also be made of the penetration of drugs into the tumor space and their therapeutic effectiveness.

What would be the value of the above work? By using immersive VR plus confocal microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, a detailed examination of human skin cancer by researchers and clinicians can be made, and disease progression or possible treatments determined based on these details.

Patients themselves can also immerse themselves in the VR space and view their VR images using our tools. The system may also be used by pharmaceutical companies to conduct clinical trials and translate lab discoveries into real-life personalized medicine applications using VR tools.