The Mouse Pathology and Imaging Core will be established to provide the necessary facilities and faculty andstaff expertise to support all four of the research projects. A major goal of the Core will be to provide expertisein mouse pathology with a specific focus on detailed aspects of thyroid gland pathology, including thepathobiology of mouse thyroid carcinoma. Pathology support will be provided by veterinary anatomic andclinical pathologists that are Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. Expertise incomparative thyroid gland pathology will enable appropriate interpretation and evaluation of the mousemodels in the research projects and comparison to human thyroid cancer. In addition, a Veterinary pathologypostdoctoral trainee in mouse pathology will perform the mouse necropsies (autopsies), cutting andprocessing of tissues and evaluation of histopathology under the supervision of faculty pathologists. This willprovide excellence and continuity of service for the research projects, and allow consistency and high levelintegration of pathologic changes observed in the differing mouse models used in this project. Additionally,this core will serve the purpose of coordinating and integrating various imaging modalities, including anatomicimaging such as Faxitron high resolution radiography, micro computed tomography (microCT), and, highfrequency ultrasound imaging of mouse thyroid glands. Functional imaging capability is also available,including whole animal or organ bioluminescent and fluorescence imaging and combined microCTradioisotopeimaging of mouse thyroid tumors. Other services that will be available to investigators include (1)mouse clinical pathology, including a full-service hematology and clinical chemistry laboratory in theVeterinary Medical Teaching Hospital that can appropriately analyze blood samples from mice; (2) support forstudies on metastasis including orthotopic implantation of tumor tissue into the thyroid bed and injection oftumor cells into the tail vein and/or left cardiac ventricle to induce metastatic disease. Facilities will includefour necropsy rooms, an automated Dako immunostainer, microcopy facilities including a 10-headedmicroscope with video output for conferences, dedicated bioluminescent and fluorescent in vivo imaginginstrumentation, dedicated high resolution (30 urn) ultrasound equipment for small animals, digital gross andmicroscopic photography facilities, histomorphometry equipment including a fluorescent microscope andBioquant Nova analysis software, mouse surgery and radiology facilities. Because the science in this projectis spread among various models and physical locations, the availability of a single core to coordinate,analyze, and compare data will provide an essential resource and significantly enhance the quality andvalidity of the research data.
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