Animal MRI Resource

描述（由申请人提供）： 2000年，缅因州医学中心研究所的分子医学中心在托马斯Maciag博士的领导下获得了血管生成领域的COBRE奖。该奖项资助了分子遗传学核心（PI：L. Liaw，Ph.D.），其主要目标是产生转基因和基因靶向小鼠。对核心设施的需求一直很高，其服务不仅被COBRE血管生成中的所有项目大量使用，而且还被其他NIH资助的独立研究项目大量使用，特别是用于转基因菌株的产生。本申请的目的是获得专用磁共振（MR）扫描仪所需的资金，该扫描仪将允许在器官或动物水平上进行非侵入性、非破坏性、全面的表型分析，以帮助对这些转基因品系进行表型分析。事实上，这样的扫描仪将不仅大大增强该设施支持分子医学中心内产生的小鼠品系的研究者表型分型的能力，而且还将是北方新英格兰研究社区的资源，因为目前在缅因州还没有小动物MR扫描仪。在活体啮齿动物中进行功能成像、血管造影、形态学分析以及使用非放射性示踪剂和分子标记的能力将提供一种极好的手段，以支持以目前不可能的分辨率分析小鼠模型。此外，在个体一生中连续跟踪变化的能力将减少研究所需的动物数量，同时增加我们分析的能力。我们预测，独特的啮齿动物品系的MR成像将成为一个成本效益，时间效率，并揭示目前正在开发的转基因或突变模型的初步分析的组成部分。该提案的具体目标是：具体目标1：获得动物磁共振成像和光谱扫描仪，具体目标2：利用该资源对啮齿动物模型进行高分辨率成像，以进行转基因品系的表型分析。我们预计，这一工具将不仅进一步我们的科学的竞争性，但也将使我们在2004年提交NIH计划项目申请更具竞争力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Center for Molecular Medicine at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute received a COBRE award in 2000 in the area of Angiogenesis under the directorship of Thomas Maciag, Ph.D. This award funded the establishment of the Molecular Genetics Core (P.I.: L. Liaw, Ph.D.), which was formed with the primary goal of generating transgenic and gene-targeted mice. The demand for the Core facility has been high, and its services have been heavily utilized not only by all of the Projects in the COBRE in Angiogenesis, but also other NIH funded, and independent research projects, particularly for the generation of transgenic strains. The goal of the present application is to obtain the funds necessary for a dedicated magnetic resonance (MR) scanner that will allow non-invasive, non-destructive, comprehensive phenotypic analysis at the organ or animal level to assist in the phenotyping of these transgenic lines. Indeed, such a scanner would not only greatly enhance the ability of the facility to support investigator phenotyping of mouse strains generated within the Center for Molecular Medicine, but would also be a resource for the Northern New England research community, as there is not currently a small animal MR scanner located in the state of Maine. The ability to perform functional imaging, angiography, morphological analysis, and use non-radioactive tracers and molecular markers in living rodents will provide an excellent means to support the analysis of mouse models at a resolution not currently possible. Additionally, the ability to track changes serially within an individual over a lifetime will reduce the number of animals needed for studies while increasing the power of our analyses. We predict that MR imaging of unique rodent strains will become a cost effective, time efficient, and revealing component of the initial analyses of transgenic or mutant models currently being developed. The specific aims of this proposal are: Specific Aim 1: Obtain an animal magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy scanner, and Specific Aim 2: Utilize this resource for the high resolution imaging of rodent models for the phenotypic analysis of transgenic lines. We anticipate that this instrument would not only further the competitive nature of our science, but would also enable us to be more competitive for the submission of an NIH program project application in 2004.