Texas Tech’s Indrajit Srivastava received a prestigious $2.1 million, five-year NIH award to further his work researching and developing next-generation bioimaging tools.
For doctors using imaging technologies and techniques to look deep inside the body, it can often be reminiscent of driving down a road in dense fog. Light scatters around, distorting the overall image, making it difficult to know exactly what they’re seeing.
Indrajit Srivastava, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering in the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering at Texas Tech University, wants to help doctors pierce through that metaphorical fog.
He is researching and developing second near-infrared (NIR-II) bioimaging tools that help clinicians see deeper inside the body with more clarity.
NIR-II imaging uses longer wavelengths of near-infrared light that can offer advantages like reduced scattering and background interference compared with other techniques. These properties make NIR-II imaging particularly promising for producing clearer imaging of biological structures located deeper within the body. This would include blood vessels, internal organs and tumors, which can be difficult to visualize using conventional fluorescence imaging techniques.
Srivastava’s research focuses on developing next-generation NIR-II imaging agents that can provide brighter, clearer and more durable visualization of biological tissues. A central challenge is designing imaging probes that not only produce strong optical signals but also behave predictably in biological environments, like how they circulate, accumulate in tissues and are ultimately cleared from the body.
According to Srivastava, NIR-II imaging remains largely in the preclinical phase and is not routinely used in operating rooms, but there are significant opportunities to improve the performances of imaging nanoprobes and their behavior in the body.
“Current dyes, such as indocyanine green, are good but are not very photostable; they start disintegrating in 15 or 20 minutes,” he said. “You need to give surgeons as much time as they need. This is why I think the goal to develop more photostable probes is really exciting.”
Agencies like the National Institutes of Health are taking notice of his work
Srivastava recently received a $2.1 million Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to further his research into NIR-II imaging technologies.
“This award is a strong example of the kind of interdisciplinary, high-impact research that advances Texas Tech’s strategic research priorities,” said Song-Charng Kong, chair of the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. “Dr. Srivastava’s work has the potential to enable new biomedical imaging and sensing technologies while strengthening collaborations across engineering, health sciences and other disciplines, positioning Texas Tech to make meaningful contributions in this rapidly emerging field.”
MIRA is a prestigious, highly competitive investigator-focused award that provides long-term support for promising researchers and their scientific programs. Unlike traditional research grants that focus on narrowly defined projects, MIRA supports an investigator's broader research vision. This allows researchers like Srivastava the flexibility and stability to pursue ambitious scientific questions and emerging discoveries as they emerge without being restricted to a rigid set of experiments outlined years in advance.
This five-year grant represents a significant federal investment in Srivastava’s independent research program and its potential to advance fundamental biomedical science.
“It’s a lot of responsibility,” Srivastava said. “They’re trying to see what my vision is for the next five years. I now have the responsibility to push the NIR-II imaging field forward.
Srivastava sees MIRA not only as an opportunity to fund his research for the next five years, but as validation for the work already being done in his laboratory.
Funded by the Robert A. Welch Foundation, the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas and the American Heart Association, the laboratory aims to develop technologies that can provide strong, sustained signals while remaining suitable for use in complex biological environments.
The work with NIR-II technologies furthers the laboratory’s portfolio of notable projects, such as afterglow imaging and 3D phantom models.
Along with advancing the field, Srivastava also feels a sense of responsibility for preparing the next generation of scientists: the students in his laboratory.
He believes the research into NIR-II technologies offers students an opportunity to work in the intersections of chemistry, biology, engineering and nanotechnology.
The five-year MIRA support will help provide continuity in research training, allowing students to tackle complex scientific problems that require sustained experimental investigation and interdisciplinary collaboration.
“This is the sort of interdisciplinary training we need to give our students to make them ready for the workforce,” he said. “It sets them in the right direction because no matter what problem they will face in their area, they will be able to address it with the interdisciplinary training they have.”
Srivastava says prestigious awards like MIRA help elevate the national visibility of Texas Tech and the Whitacre College of Engineering, strengthening their recognition in NIH-funded biomedical research and positioning them as emerging leaders in NIR-II biomedical imaging.
“If people want to be trained in biomedical research, they should be interested in coming to Texas Tech,” he said. “We are building research capabilities here that will help shape the next generation of imaging techniques for surgical guidance and disease visualization.”
Read more about the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering.