Phoenix / X-ray nanoTOM

描述(由申请者提供)：这项提案申请资金购买纳米计算机断层扫描系统(Nantom(R)；菲尼克斯|x射线，由GE Healthcare销售)，目的是大幅推进西奈山医学院十几名联邦资助研究人员的研究计划。这项技术将有助于我们准确和有效地量化组织的3D排列或分布的各个方面，这些方面对于评估功能结果和研究疾病的发病机制非常重要。在肌肉骨骼研究方面，我们的研究人员表明，了解出生前和出生后生长过程中特征的发展对于促进我们对骨骼脆性和颅缝融合的遗传基础的理解至关重要。然而，生长中的骨骼仍然是一个极具挑战性的结构，使用传统的MicroCT系统进行成像，因为它的结构特征较小，矿化度较低。此外，研究人员对人骨和鲸鱼骨中骨小梁的3D排列进行大规模研究，仅限于低分辨率CT图像或2D组织学，这两者都不会推进他们的计划。对于心血管研究，目前使用纳米颗粒来确定巨噬细胞在心血管组织中的空间分布的努力仅限于兔模型，因为我们缺乏可用的高分辨率成像系统来将这项研究转移到老鼠模型上。因此，我们的研究人员必须依靠破坏性的、耗时的和昂贵的组织学方法来获取数据。尽管组织学提供了有价值的细胞信息，但结构读数仅限于2D信息，因此削弱了我们获取推进科学计划所需的3D空间信息的能力。我们的研究人员需要一种非常通用的多尺度成像系统来生成大小从1-100 mm的骨骼和心血管结构的高分辨率三维(3D)图像。我们建议购买菲尼克斯|x射线Nantom(R)，因为该系统是一种独特的体外计算机断层扫描系统，可以非破坏性地获取极高分辨率(0.5 mm)的x射线衰减样品的3D图像。该纳米管可在四种模式下工作，包括用于小型生物样本(例如，出生后的小鼠骨骼)的纳米聚焦模式(0.5 mm体素大小)和用于大型生物样本(例如，人类股骨近端)的高功率模式(180KV，15瓦)。这个单一的系统将允许我们进行多尺度成像，并抵消对我们现有的和老化的MicroCT系统的巨大需求。这两个系统将被合并到一个共享的研究设施中，以更好地支持MSSM研究人员的成像需求。相关性：菲尼克斯|x射线Nantom(R)提供的非破坏性成像和准确的量化使样品能够用于后续的分析，如组织形态计量学和生物力学，提供了比其他方法更完整的特征。 与公共健康相关：该建议书是购买菲尼克斯|X-射线纳米成像系统的申请，这是一种独特的多功能成像系统，将通过获得亚微米分辨率的生物结构的3D图像来增强我们的科学研究计划，我们的用户可以从这些图像中量化特征，从而更好地了解功能结果以及肌肉骨骼和心血管疾病的发病机制。这个多尺度成像系统将被合并到一个共享资源设施中，使其可供西奈山研究社区使用。纳米原子将提供最先进的高分辨率多尺度成像能力，这将加强我们机构研究人员之间的合作，并确定与疾病和治疗的联系，否则这些联系将被忽视。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests funds to purchase a nanoComputed Tomography system (nanotom(R); phoenix|x- ray, marketed by GE Healthcare) with the intent of significantly advancing the research programs of over a dozen federally funded investigators at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. This technology will facilitate our ability to accurately and efficiently quantify aspects of the 3D arrangement or distribution of tissues that are important for assessing functional outcomes and for studying the pathogenesis of disease. For musculoskeletal research, our investigators show that understanding the development of traits during pre- and postnatal growth is central to advancing our understanding of the genetic basis of skeletal fragility and craniosynostosis. However, the growing skeleton remains an extremely challenging structure to image using conventional microCT systems because of the small structural features and low mineralization. Further, researchers conducting large-scale research on the 3D arrangement of trabeculae in human bone and whale bone are limited to low resolution CT images or 2D histology, neither of which will advance their programs. For cardiovascular research, efforts to use nanoparticles to identify the spatial distribution of macrophages within cardiovascular tissues are currently limited to a rabbit model because we lack an available high resolution imaging system to move this research to the mouse model. Consequently, our investigators must rely on destructive, time-consuming, and expensive histological methods to acquire data. Although histology provides valuable cellular information, the structural readouts are limited to 2D information, and thus impair our ability to acquire the 3D spatial information needed to advance our scientific programs. Our investigators need an extremely versatile, multi-scale imaging system to generate high resolution 3-dimensional (3D) images of skeletal and cardiovascular structures ranging in size from 1- 100 mm. We propose to purchase the phoenix|x-ray nanotom(R) because this system is a unique ex vivo computed tomography system that non-destructively acquires extremely high resolution (0.5 mm) 3D images of x-ray attenuating samples. The nanotom can operate in four modes, including a nanofocus mode (0.5mm voxel size) for small biological samples (e.g., postnatal mouse bone) and a high power mode (180kV, 15 Watts) for large biological specimens (e.g., proximal human femora). This single system will allow us to do multi-scale imaging and to offset the heavy demand placed on our existing and aging microCT system. These two systems will be incorporated into a Shared Research Facility to better support the imaging needs of MSSM researchers. Relevance: The non-destructive imaging and accurate quantification provided by the phoenix|x-ray nanotom(R) allows specimens to be used for subsequent analyses such as histomorphometry and biomechanics, providing a more complete characterization than otherwise possible. Public Health Relevance: This proposal is a request to purchase a phoenix|x-ray nanotom(r), a uniquely versatile imaging system that will enhance our scientific research program by obtaining 3D images of biological structures at sub-micron resolution from which our users can quantify traits leading to a better understanding of functional outcomes and the pathogenesis of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular diseases. This multi-scale imaging system will be incorporated into a Shared Resource Facility to make it available to the Mount Sinai research community. The nanotom will provide state-of-the-art high resolution multi-scale imaging capabilities that will enhance collaborations among investigators at our institution and identify connections to diseases and treatments that would otherwise have been overlooked.