This is a request for funds to purchase a VisualSonics Vevo 2100 in order to provide high-resolution, mouse ultrasound imaging for biomedical researchers on Cornell's Ithaca campus. The Vevo 2100 is equivalent to a human ultrasound station but with tenfold higher frequency, resulting in a resolution appropriate to mouse- sized organs and tissues. It offers a non-invasive imaging strategy that excels in the visualization of cardiac and valve movements, vascular flow and embryonic development. It also enables accurate volumetric assessment of cancerous lesions before they can be palpated. Tissue perfusion can be assessed by Doppler methods and with increased sensitivity by introduction of ultrasound contrast (small bubbles of varying sizes). VisualSonics has recently developed all solid-state transducers that enable faster imaging with less mechanical perturbation to specimens. The proposed instrument will be a shared resource managed under the Cornell Imaging facility, for use by more than eight NIH-funded researchers investigating a diverse set of projects ranging from the effects of tissue stiffness on metastasis to mechanisms of heart development. The acquired ultrasound will form the seed component to an in vivo imaging suite of instruments, consisting also of whole mouse fluorescence imaging, high resolution CT and multiphoton microscopy. This new mouse imaging facility will be managed under an administrative and oversight structure already existing for the Cornell Imaging core facility. A mouse imaging educational module will be developed around the center to introduce students and researchers to noninvasive imaging strategies and exposure them to maintenance and monitoring of animals under general anesthesia. More broadly, we expect that this in vivo imaging suite will provide a center for research and training, encouraging an exchange of ideas, and an exploration of cross-platform studies and novel applications. The requested instrument will be an important component to biomedical research, enabling researchers to better understand the fundamental mechanisms of development, cardiology and carcinogenesis.
We are requesting funds for a mouse ultrasound imaging station. This instrument is similar to a human ultrasound, but with a resolution scaled down tenfold for imaging mouse organs and tissues. It will allow biomedical scientists and engineers to noninvasively investigate heart rhythms, blood flow and cancerous lesions in mice. These studies have implications to a broad spectrum of human health, including cancer, embryology and cardiac development and disease.
