Nitrogen Vacancy Diamond Quantum Magnetometry for Quantitative and Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Iron Mapping in Endometriosis Diagnosis

PROJECT SUMMARY Endometriosis is a chronic, inflammatory disease affecting approximately one in ten women of reproductive age worldwide, causing chronic pelvic pain, infertility, and organ dysfunction. Despite its prevalence and clinical burden, early and accurate diagnosis remains a major challenge due to nonspecific symptoms and the absence of reliable noninvasive diagnostic tools. Current diagnostic practice still relies on laparoscopic surgery for visual confirmation of lesions, resulting in diagnostic delays that can exceed a decade and significant physical and economic costs. A growing body of evidence suggests that iron overload and oxidative stress play central roles in the disease progression. Recurrent bleeding from ectopic lesions and local iron accumulation trigger chronic inflammation and ferroptotic cell death. These processes produce distinct magnetic and biochemical signatures that can be detected using quantum-based sensing approaches. This project aims to establish a quantum magnetic sensing platform for minimally invasive detection of endometriosis through direct mapping of tissue iron burden. The approach integrates nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, solid-state quantum defects whose spin-dependent optical properties allow magnetic field sensing under ambient conditions, with fiber-based optical readout for endoscopic operation. Aim 1 will characterize magnetic and biochemical signatures of iron accumulation in endometrial and endometriosis tissues. Using NV-diamond magnetometry, biochemical assays, and MRI correlation, we will establish quantitative calibration between NV magnetic signatures and biochemical iron metrics, demonstrate elevated iron burden and heterogeneity in ectopic lesions, and obtain preliminary evidence that intrauterine tissues and fluids exhibit measurable magnetic signatures correlating with extrauterine disease. Aim 2 will develop and optimize a fiber-coupled NV-diamond magnetometry probe compatible with hysteroscopic channels. Diamond photonic structures, including light-trapping waveguides and cavity-enhanced absorption geometries, will enable phase-sensitive magnetic readout with sub-pT/√𝐻𝑧 and subcellular spatial resolution, validated using ex vivo human tissues for clinical translation. The underlying NV-diamond architecture establishes a versatile and generalizable platform for minimally invasive magnetic imaging across gastrointestinal, urologic, and laparoscopic applications. It unites imaging and quantitative biomarker detection within a fiber-integrated quantum magnetometry framework, creating a biopsy-sparing diagnostic tool that reduces reliance on specialist interpretation and brings quantum sensing into routine clinical workflows - a new class of quantum-enabled diagnostic instruments for precision biomedicine.