Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) is a free-standing institute that serves as the research arm of the Children's Hospital &Research Center Oakland. Our research program is among the top pediatric research departments in the nation with regard to funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, we currently lack small animal imaging capabilities to support preclinical research involving rodents. This proposal requests funds to purchase an [IVIS Spectrum] for use at CHORI to facilitate a variety of projects involving small animal imaging, including to monitor the growth of tumor xenografts and pathogenic microbes and to follow the bioavailability of therapeutic agents labeled with fluorescent or luminescent markers. Additional novel studies will employ optical imaging approaches to follow gene expression in LacZ transgenic mouse models. Twelve major users, 20 NIH-funded projects in tumor biology, infectious disease, nanotechnology and other areas of biomedical importance will immediately benefit from this instrument. Additionally, CHORI's acquisition of the [IVIS Spectrum] would likely provide indirect benefit to many other NIH-funded investigators via the efficient production and phenotyping of murine models of disease generated under the direction of one of our major users participating in the Knock Out Mouse Project (KOMP). The requested instrument system provides the full suite of IVIS optical features [including] Planer Imaging, Spectral Unmixing, 3D bioluminescence and 3D fluorescence. This system is configured to provide imaging information [that allows us] to monitor cells introduced into a rodent. Cancer cells or microbial cells labeled with bioluminescent or fluorescent markers can be monitored to detect changes in total volume and invasion using the Spectrum imaging system. CHORI has no existing small animal imaging system. Transport of rodents to other sites in the Bay Area of Northern California where small animal imaging systems are available is not feasible. Currently, pathological examination to identify tumor progression or bacterial invasiveness is the only method available on site. This approach is time-consuming and requires the use of many animals to follow disease progression over time. CHORI investigators undertaking small animal imaging are currently doing so through collaborative arrangements with scientists who have access to small animal imaging instrumentation. The IVIS Spectrum [is] a premiere optical imaging system [and] a versatile instrument that is easy to operate and with which our user group is highly familiar. Thus, we have chosen this as the optimal system from a number of competing imaging systems on the market. The imaging system will significantly advance the current projects and add to the pool of shared equipment.
