iThera Medical Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography System for Full Body Molecular and Functional Small Animal Imaging

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this application is to provide basic and translational investigators from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) with a small-animal, full-body optoacoustic imaging capable of facilitating and furthering their cancer research. The iThera Medical Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT) small-animal imaging system provides multi-wavelength optoacoustic imaging data throughout the full body of a mouse. A significant number of NIH-funded investigators work collaboratively at MDACC toward their common mission of eliminating cancer. The research foci of these investigators span basic, translational, and clinical domains, and therefore many of them rely on murine models of cancer to bridge the gap between laboratory-based development and clinical implementation. Specifically, the MSOT system will provide MDACC investigators with a powerful new tool toward development of molecular probes and therapeutics, the investigation of cancer biology in orthotopic or spontaneous tumor models, and longitudinal assessment of therapeutic efficacy. Currently, MDACC does not have an optoacoustic imaging system capable of full-body or orthotopic/spontaneous tumor imaging to conduct functional and molecular imaging of the mice used in these studies. The specific aim of this application is to acquire the iThera Medical MSOT system to enable MDACC investigators to conduct research in murine models for the purpose of improving the mechanistic understanding, diagnosis, and therapy of cancer. The principle investigator, key personnel, and all other users detailed in this application are fully able and committed to ensuring that the MSOT system will be successfully incorporated into MDACC's small-animal imaging core and leveraged to its full potential. As we highlight in this application, there are currently many NIH-funded investigators at MDACC who would significantly and immediately benefit from the acquisition of an MSOT system, which affords researchers with essential molecular and functional imaging capabilities. In addition, the MSOT system would become part of the small- animal imaging and therapy resources supported by MDACC's Small Animal Imaging Facility (SAIF), which is a shared institutional resource supported, in part, by our Cancer Center Support Grant (#: P30 CA16672; PI: R. DePinho). Lastly, although there are a significant number of investigators at MDACC who will utilize the MSOT system immediately, in time the technology could also benefit NIH-funded investigators at the other seven major medical research institutions at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, TX.