Lymphatic Imaging, Genomics, and Phenotyping Technologies

The Big Question

What if we could make the invisible lymphatic system visible?

The Problem

Though invisible to the naked eye, the lymphatic system plays a major role in the healthy function of all major organs. Patients with primary lymphatic disease (LD) are often misdiagnosed, leading to inappropriate treatments, prolonged hospital stays, possible disfigurement and disability, and even death.

Beyond LD, this difficulty in assessing lymphatic health impairs our understanding of its role in a variety of common, chronic diseases. Cancer, obesity, heart failure, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic kidney and liver diseases, autoimmune disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases all have a lymphatic component.

The Current State

Signs of LD only appear clearly when the disease progresses, and clinical symptoms can be subtle or overlap with other conditions. The primary way to diagnose lymphatic dysfunction is a physical evaluation, which is not standardized and provides no insight into lymphatic anatomy or function. Today, reliable visualization is a major challenge in assessing lymphatic dysfunction.

Current imaging technologies for the lymphatic system all have drawbacks. Magnetic resonance imaging, for example, is highly specialized, expensive, and inaccessible to most patients. More affordable imaging techniques lack good tissue penetration or are insufficiently detailed to be widely useful. Measurements from blood and lymphatic fluid and genetic testing have not been fully explored.

The Challenge

Lymphatic vessels are tiny and translucent, making them much harder to see than blood vessels. Lymph fluid moves through them at a slow rate and low pressure, preventing many of the diagnostic techniques used for veins and arteries from being effective. Lymph fluid itself is also highly variable in composition.

The Solution

The Lymphatic Imaging, Genomics, and pHenotyping Technologies (LIGHT) program seeks comprehensive diagnostic solutions across three technical areas: diagnosis and monitoring through biomarker discovery; imaging technologies; and prevention, prediction, and diagnostic confirmation through genetics, epigenetics, and models of lymphatic dysfunction. If successful, LIGHT will not only illuminate the unseen aspects of the lymphatic system through novel diagnostic approaches, but also significantly improve patient care and outcomes by gaining a deeper understanding of its critical role in health.

Why ARPA-H?

ARPA-H is always seeking unconventional approaches and innovative solutions to pressing health challenges. LIGHT targets an overlooked system in order to catalyze transformative advances in lymphatic medicine.

LIGHT Discovery Duos: Voice Sessions

Designing Lymphatic Solutions with Patients, for Patients.

The LIGHT program involves the patient and caregiver perspective from the start. Each performer team is required to include a Discovery Duo, a unique pairing of an early-career investigator and a patient or caregiver ambassador.

The Discovery Duo approach ensures that patient perspectives and real-world needs are integrated into the research and development process. Discovery Duos also lead voluntary “voice sessions” (a survey and interview effort) to gather input from the broader community — fellow patients, clinicians, entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, and more — to further guide the technology being developed by their team.

Voice sessions are voluntary and conducted by Discovery Duo teams, not ARPA-H.

Watch webinar recording

Want to Learn More?

Interested community members (patients, caregivers, providers, advocates, biotech investors, payers, etc) can find out more information and sign-up with one or more voice sessions:

3DT Holdings, LLC: Minimally invasive tools to measure thoracic duct function for detection and treatment of swelling and organ‑related lymphatic disease.
Columbia University: Genetic testing and liquid biopsy diagnostic solutions for early onset rare lymphatic diseases during childhood.
Hospital for Special Surgery: Genetic-based probability scores to help inform patients on risk for breast-cancer-related lymphedema. Interest link coming soon.
Stanford University: Improving access and safety to high resolution MRI imaging of the lymphatic system with advances in Magnetic Resonance Lymphangiography (MRL).
University of Alberta: New ultrasound tech gives fast, detailed images of tiny lymph vessels—helping to diagnose lymphedema earlier and guide better treatment.
University of Arizona: Ultrasound‑activated imaging that maps lymph flow in real time to pinpoint blockages and guide treatment decisions.
University of California, Irvine: Low‑radiation CT scans coupled with blood/lymph biomarkers to diagnose thoracic duct obstruction.
University of Pennsylvania: Imaging agents that illuminate lymphatic vessels in gut and liver, areas historically impossible to visualize.
University of South Florida: Identification of lymphatic biomarkers associated with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
Weill Cornell Medicine: Genetic biomarkers to distinguish between Lymphedema and Lipedema diseases, and new quantum sensors for clinical screens.
William Marsh Rice University: Photoacoustic imaging, plus blood biomarkers, to safely diagnose lymphatic disorders, cancer‑related swelling, and autoimmune conditions.