Our Story

Founded in 2025

Founded by Prof. Remi Veneziano, Prof. Parag Chitnis, and John E. Hart, MBA, as NanOptical Biomedical Inc. — technology developed at George Mason University (GMU). NanOptical has exclusively licensed the patents pending from GMU and will establish a facility to manufacture, distribute, and sell the Research version of its contrast agent.

A person wearing blue medical gloves holds a glass container with a black lid. The container is filled with a clear green liquid. The person is in a setting that looks like a laboratory or medical environment.

Our Mission

Transform Photoacoustic Imaging (PAI) by producing a safe, versatile, near-infrared contrast agent platform for targeted deep-tissue imaging and sensing — improving PAI for pre-clinical research focused on diagnostic imaging, assessing therapeutic efficacy, and drug biodistribution.

SonoVanta™

Our contrast agent is called SonoVanta™ — combining "sono" (sound) and "vanta" (from vantage: depth) — enabling deep, precise, and enhanced imaging. SonoVanta™ has the potential for applications such as image-guidance for tumor margin resection in cancer surgeries.

R&D Support

Research, development, and validation efforts have been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, and George Mason University.