Phoenix / X-ray nanoTOM

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案要求资金购买纳米计算机断层扫描系统(nanotom(R)；凤凰|x射线，由GE医疗销售)，旨在显著推进西奈山医学院十几名联邦资助的研究人员的研究项目。这项技术将促进我们准确有效地量化组织的3D排列或分布方面的能力，这对于评估功能结果和研究疾病的发病机制非常重要。对于肌肉骨骼研究，我们的研究人员表明，了解产前和产后发育过程中特征的发展对于提高我们对骨骼脆性和颅缝闭锁遗传基础的理解至关重要。然而，由于结构特征小，矿化程度低，使用传统的微ct系统对生长的骨架进行成像仍然是一个极具挑战性的结构。此外，研究人员对人骨和鲸骨小梁的三维排列进行大规模研究，仅限于低分辨率的CT图像或二维组织学，这两者都无法推进他们的计划。在心血管研究中，使用纳米颗粒识别心血管组织内巨噬细胞空间分布的努力目前仅限于兔模型，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小鼠模型。因此，我们的研究人员必须依靠破坏性的、耗时的、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，从而损害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个非常通用的、多尺度的成像系统来生成骨骼和心血管结构的高分辨率三维（3D）图像，其尺寸从1- 100毫米不等。我们建议购买phoenix|x射线纳米层析仪(R)，因为该系统是一种独特的离体计算机断层扫描系统，可以非破坏性地获取x射线衰减样品的极高分辨率（0.5 mm） 3D图像。纳米显微镜可以在四种模式下工作，包括纳米聚焦模式（0.5mm体素大小），用于小型生物样本（例如，出生后的老鼠骨骼）和高功率模式（180kV， 15瓦），用于大型生物样本（例如，人类股骨近端）。这个单一的系统将允许我们进行多尺度成像，并抵消对现有和老化的微ct系统的巨大需求。这两个系统将被纳入一个共享研究设施，以更好地支持MSSM研究人员的成像需求。相关性：phoenix|x射线纳米层析仪(R)提供的非破坏性成像和精确定量允许标本用于后续分析，如组织形态学和生物力学，提供比其他方法更完整的表征。

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.