04 Small Animal Imaging Facility

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PROJECT SUMMARY: SMALL ANIMAL IMAGING FACILITY (SAIF) The mission of the Small Animal Imaging Facility (SAIF) is to advance cancer research by providing cancer center members with powerful imaging technologies and the expertise necessary to successfully integrate imaging sciences into preclinical cancer research. Dr. John D. Hazle serves as director, and Dr. James A. Bankson serves as co-director. The facility includes faculty experts, specially trained staff, and state-of-the-art imaging instrumentation, most of which is not available anywhere else in the cancer center. The SAIF has 3 separate sites across the campus to ensure convenient access to all cancer center members. SAIF imaging laboratories are located on the North Campus adjacent to and contiguous with the small animal vivarium, inside the South Campus Vivarium, and in South Campus Research Building #3. SAIF faculty and staff are available to support all aspects of imaging in preclinical cancer research, from proposal and experiment design through data acquisition, analysis, interpretation, and presentation. Currently, the SAIF has 21 unique pieces of imaging equipment optimized for small animals and a full complement of ancillary equipment for support of animals before, during, and after experiments. The imaging equipment includes 3 high-field magnetic resonance scanners, a low-field permanent magnet magnetic resonance scanner, a dynamic nuclear polarization system for generating hyperpolarized magnetic resonance agents, a microcomputed tomography system, a positron emission tomography/single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography scanner, 2 small- animal radiation research platforms, 2 ultrasound systems (1 capable of photoacoustic imaging), a dedicated photoacoustic imaging system, a cabinet X-Ray system, 6 optical imaging systems, and a prototype magnetic relaxometry system (on loan as part of a research agreement). During this grant period, MD Anderson has funded $5,918,344 in capital equipment, and approximately $1.1M has been obtained through NCI Shared or High-end Instrumentation grants. Annual operational funding is $195,521 (20%) from the CCSG, $719,742 (74%) from program income, and $53,413 (6%) of institutional support. During this 6-year grant period, the SAIF served a total of 250 cancer center members, including investigators from all 16 CCSG programs. A total of 87% of all usage was peer-review funded, and the SAIF is requesting $200,057 (20%) from the CCSG in grant Yr44. Overall use has increased 2.7-fold in Yr42 over the average use in the prior funding cycle. The SAIF supported 181 peer-reviewed publications during this reporting period, with 51 (28%) published in journals with IF >10 and 119 (66%) published in those with IF >5. The specific aims are: Aim 1: To maintain a broad range of state-of-the-art imaging instrumentation and dedicated staff that support the preclinical imaging needs of cancer center members; Aim 2: To provide consultation, training and support in the planning, acquisition, and analysis of imaging data; and Aim 3: To develop and implement new technologies and methods that improve the accuracy and precision of quantitative imaging biomarkers in preclinical cancer research.