MRI: Acquisition of an IVIS Lumina K Series III real-time in vivo-in vitro fluorescent and bioluminescent fast imaging system

为了研究和理解生命系统的复杂性，有必要找到直接在生命系统内部探测生物功能的方法。例如，疾病的进展及其对新药的反应最好不是在培养皿中，而是在生物体内，在那里，所有的相互作用和反应都可以在尽可能真实的环境变量下进行调查。光学生物成像就是这样一种方法，它使研究人员能够窥视生物实体的内部。利用强大的相机和基因技术，使细胞、组织和器官能够发出可见光，现在可以无创地观察生物系统的原始状态。该提案的目标是获得IVIS Lumina相机，以促进光学成像技术的进一步发展。该摄像机将成为生物成像核心设施的核心，为田纳西大学校园、健康科学中心、兽医学院、邻近社区学院和非研究密集型学院的各种研究者提供服务。照相机的使用将刺激新的调查活动，这些活动集中在解决生物、工程、环境和物理科学领域当前和新兴的研究挑战，同时强调跨学科的学生培训和教育推广。重点研究课题包括癌症治疗的成像应用、植入式生物传感器、更快的床边诊断、先进的药物输送系统、改进的动物模型以了解人类疾病，甚至是能够监测有害环境污染物的发光植物。IVIS相机的共享性质将促进新的多学科合作，进一步推进光学成像领域。专门针对本科生和高中生的教学和实践培训活动，也为追求以最先进的生物成像技术为中心的新知识和发现提供了挑战。本次MRI仪器收购提案的目标是获得IVIS Lumina K系列III实时体内体外荧光和生物发光快速成像系统，供多学科跨校园和跨机构的研究团队共享使用。光学成像使用蛋白质、染料和纳米材料发出荧光和/或生物发光，为询问和测量生物分子、细胞、组织、器官和生物体提供了新的技术工具箱，从中可以获得对离散生物单位和相互作用生物系统的复杂性、结构和动力学的新见解。IVIS Lumina代表了一项最先进的技术，在灵敏度和速度上比目前现有的成像基础设施提高了10倍。对于进行动物研究的研究人员来说，毫秒的暴露时间允许实时有意识的动物成像，并通过消除对动物麻醉的需求来促进动物福利的改善。监测有意识动物的能力代表了体内生物成像的转型飞跃，显著丰富了我们理解和模拟疾病状态和治疗干预的能力。为这项MRI提案组建的研究团队代表了一个致力于将光学成像应用于生物和工程研究传统边界的不同研究人员的集合。该成像系统将促进新的合作和协同效应，重点关注环境生物技术、生物微电子学、纳米生物技术、有机体发育和生理学、合成生物学、生物医学诊断和材料科学等领域的共同优势。

To study and understand the complexities of a living system, it is essential that methods be available to probe biological functions directly within the living system itself. The progression of a disease and how it responds to a new pharmaceutical agent, for example, is best discerned not in a petri dish but rather inside the living being where all interactions and reactions can be investigated under the most authentic environmental variables possible. Optical bioimaging is one such method that enables researchers to peer inside of living entities. Using powerful cameras alongside genetic techniques that enable cells, tissues, and organs to emit visible light, it is now possible to noninvasively visualize biological systems in their native state. The goal of this proposal is to acquire an IVIS Lumina camera to facilitate further advances in optical imaging technologies. The camera will become a centerpiece of a bioimaging core facility that serves a diverse investigator pool across the University of Tennessee campus, Health Science Center, Veterinary College, and neighboring community colleges and non-research intensive colleges. Access to the camera will spur new investigative activities centered on addressing current and emerging research challenges across the biological, engineering, environmental, and physical sciences while emphasizing cross-disciplinary student training and educational outreach. Priority research topics include imaging applications addressing cancer therapies, implantable biosensors, faster bedside diagnostics, advanced drug delivery systems, improved animal models for the understanding of human disease, and even glowing plants capable of monitoring for harmful environmental pollutants. The shared nature of the IVIS camera will foster new multidisciplinary collaborations to further advance the optical imaging field. Dedicated teaching and hands-on training activities focused on undergraduate and high school students are also in place for the challenging pursuit of new knowledge and discoveries centered on state-of-the-art bioimaging technology.The goal of this MRI instrument acquisition proposal is to obtain an IVIS Lumina K Series III real-time in vivo-in vitro fluorescent and bioluminescent fast imaging system for shared use among a multidisciplinary cross-campus and cross-institutional investigational team. Optical imaging using proteins, dyes, and nanomaterials that emit fluorescent and/or bioluminescent light has provided a new technological toolbox for interrogating and surveying biological molecules, cells, tissues, organs, and organisms, from which new insights can be gained into the complexity, structure, and dynamics of discrete biological units and interactive biosystems. The IVIS Lumina represents a state-of-the-art technology that provides 10-fold improvements in sensitivity and speed over current existing imaging infrastructure. For researchers performing animal studies, millisecond exposure times permit real-time conscious animal imaging and promote improved animal welfare by negating the requirement for animal anesthetization. The ability to monitor conscious animals represents a transformational leap in in vivo bioimaging that significantly enriches our ability to understand and model disease states and therapeutic interventions. The investigational team assembled for this MRI proposal represents a diverse ensemble of researchers dedicated to applying optical imaging across the conventional boundaries of biological and engineering research. The imaging system will foster new collaborations and synergies focused on shared strengths in environmental biotechnology, biomicroelectronics, nanobiotechnology, organismal development and physiology, synthetic biology, biomedical diagnostics, and materials sciences.