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，必须有方法直接在生命系统本身内探测生物功能。例如，疾病的进展以及它对新药剂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最真实的环境变量下进行研究。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命实体的内部。使用强大的相机以及使细胞，组织和器官能够发射可见光的遗传技术，现在可以无创地可视化自然状态下的生物系统。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、兽医学院以及邻近的社区学院和非研究密集型学院的多样化研究人员提供服务。访问相机将刺激新的调查活动集中在解决当前和新兴的研究挑战，在生物，工程，环境和物理科学，同时强调跨学科的学生培训和教育推广。优先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，用于了解人类疾病的改进动物模型，甚至能够监测有害环境污染物的发光植物。IVIS相机的共享特性将促进新的多学科合作，进一步推动光学成像领域的发展。针对本科生和高中生的专门教学和实践培训活动也已经到位，以追求以最先进的生物成像技术为中心的新知识和新发现。该MRI仪器采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，供多学科交叉使用。校园和跨机构的研究团队。使用蛋白质、染料和纳米材料发射荧光和/或生物发光光的光学成像为询问和调查生物分子、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元和交互式生物系统的复杂性、结构和动力学的新见解。IVIS Lumina代表了最先进的技术，其灵敏度和速度比当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，毫秒级的暴露时间允许实时有意识的动物成像，并通过取消对动物麻醉的要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一个变革性飞跃，大大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提案而组建的研究团队代表了一个致力于在生物和工程研究的传统边界上应用光学成像的研究人员的多元化集合。该成像系统将促进新的合作和协同作用，重点是环境生物技术，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.