Visual Sonics Vevo 2100 Imaging System

描述（由申请人提供）：西弗吉尼亚大学的一组六名研究人员正在申请资金，以购买VisualSonics Vevo 2100微型超声波，用于小动物的实时3D成像。尽管临床超声已经在人体中常规使用多年，但Vevo是唯一具有进行小动物成像所需分辨率的临床前系统（空间分辨率低至30微米）。由于该成像平台是非侵入性的，因此可以监测同一组动物进行纵向研究，减少了所需动物的数量，同时提高了收集数据的准确性。Vevo将被安置在WVU动物模型和成像设施，该设施位于我们健康科学中心的动物园内。我们的动物成像设备是全新的（2008年12月开始使用），我们正在努力获得必要的设备和专业知识，以支持我们全校教师的转化研究项目。动物成像设备由马丁博士（授权私家侦探）负责。我们最近聘请了一名技术人员，他将负责设施和设备的日常操作、用户培训和设施维护。在一位慷慨的捐赠者的资助下，我们购买了Xenogen IVIS Lumina光学成像系统，用于观察小动物的发光和荧光。Vevo是我们成像中心的下一个优先事项，因为1)它易于使用，2)它提供不依赖于转基因动物的临床前成像，3)它具有超越Lumina能够执行的广泛应用，包括可视化和监测胚胎发育的能力，研究解剖结构，测量和量化心脏功能和血流量。我们已经为这笔拨款确定了六个主要用户，代表了我们的三个跨学科研究中心，作为我们期望用Vevo执行的各种成像的例子。心血管和呼吸科学中心的研究人员将使用Vevo来测量动脉粥样硬化小鼠模型中的斑块形成程度，并测量1型糖尿病小鼠模型中心脏收缩性能的病理变化。神经科学中心的研究人员将使用Vevo将表达载体通过图像引导注射技术传递到胚胎小鼠的大脑中，以研究大脑皮层的功能和发育以及调节胚胎神经发育的遗传机制。Mary Babb Randolph癌症中心的研究人员将使用Vevo来检测和监测前列腺癌和卵巢癌小鼠模型中的肿瘤形成和血管生成，并研究血管生成的分子调节，这可能被用于开发组织缺血和癌症的治疗方法。Vevo将允许这些研究人员实时监测他们的动物，以评估胚胎发育、疾病进展和治疗效果。这些转化研究项目的目标是将潜在的治疗方法带回诊所，以改善人类健康。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A group of six investigators at West Virginia University are requesting funds to purchase a VisualSonics Vevo 2100 micro-ultrasound for real-time, 3D imaging in small animals. Although clinical ultrasounds have been routinely used in humans for years, the Vevo is the only preclinical system with the resolution necessary to perform small animal imaging (spatial resolution down to 30 microns). Because this imaging platform is non- invasive, the same cohort of animals can be monitored for longitudinal studies, decreasing the number of animals needed while increasing the accuracy of the data being collected. The Vevo will be housed in the WVU Animal Models and Imaging Facility which is located within the vivarium in our Health Sciences Center. Our animal imaging facility is brand new (started in Dec 2008), and we are working hard to obtain the equipment and expertise necessary to support the translational research projects of our faculty across the university. The animal imaging facility is directed by Dr. Martin (the grant P.I.). We recently hired a technician who will be responsible for the daily operation of the facility and equipment, training for users and maintenance in the facility. With funds from a generous donor, we purchased a Xenogen IVIS Lumina optical imaging system to visualize luminescence and fluorescence in small animals. The Vevo is the next priority for our imaging center because 1) it is easy to use, 2) it provides pre-clinical imaging that does not depend on genetically-altered animals, and 3) it has broad applications that go beyond what the Lumina is able to perform, including the ability to visualize and monitor embryonic development, to study anatomical structures and to measure and quantitate cardiac function and blood flow. We have identified six major users for this grant, representing our three interdisciplinary research centers, as examples of the kinds of imaging we expect to perform with the Vevo. From the Center for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences, we have investigators who will use the Vevo to measure the degree of plaque formation in a mouse model of atherosclerosis and to measure pathological changes in cardiac contractile performance in mouse models of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Researchers from the Center for Neuroscience will use the Vevo to deliver expression vectors into the brains of embryonic mice using the image-guided injection technology to study the function and development of the cerebral cortex and the genetic mechanisms that regulate embryonic neural development. Investigators in the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center will use the Vevo to detect and monitor tumor formation and angiogenesis in mouse models of prostate and ovarian cancer and to study the molecular regulation of angiogenesis that may be exploited to develop treatments for tissue ischemia and cancers. The Vevo will allow these researchers to monitor their animals in real time to assess embryonic development, the progression of disease and the efficacy of treatments. The goal of these translational research projects is to bring potential therapies back into the clinics to improve human health. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The Vevo 2100 is a micro-ultrasound designed specifically for real time, small animal imaging. This equipment will allow researchers using animal models of cardiovascular disease, neuronal development and cancer to non-invasively monitor embryonic development, the progression of disease and the efficacy of potential therapies. The Vevo will be housed in the WVU Animal Models and Imaging Facility and will be available to all of the researchers in the university.