This proposal requests funds for a newly available CereTom CT scanner and related accessories which allow it to be combined with a preclinical non-human primate microPET P4 scanner in the fashion of hybrid PET/CT systems, giving a true hybrid imaging platform geared specifically towards the imaging of larger subject research animals up to 20kg. The resulting preclinical PET/CT system will be available as a shared resource to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and other local institutions. Departments within the University that will benefit from the instrument include: Immunology, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Cell Biology and Physiology, Radiology, Medicine, in particular the Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Division, as well as the Center for Vaccine Research and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. The system will be sited in the University of Pittsburgh P.E.T. Facility in the Department of Radiology. This preclinical system, now available commercially, was developed by the vendors as options to their respective standalone scanners after being identified by the investigators in this proposal as the optimal system for preclinical imaging of non-human primates, given that the only systems available were small animal systems and clinical PET/CT scanners. Initial development was motivated by an imaging proposal for investigating mechanisms of multi-drug chemotherapy in a non-human primate model of tuberculosis. The first system, funded by a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation award (P.I.: JoAnne Flynn), is located in an Animal Biosafety Level 3 (ABSL3) environment in the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL), a NIAID-funded initiative that is part of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research.
We aim to capitalize on the development of this design by making it available outside of the ABSL3 environment (at biosafety level 2). The major component in terms of cost, the microPET scanner, is already available in the P.E.T. Facility;hence funds are requested only for the CereTom CT and the optional external microPET bed that works with it. Having a system available outside of ABSL3 is essential for applications that do not fall under the ABSL3 rubric;these include oncology, many infectious and inflammatory lung diseases (e.g. COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, including incidence in SIV/SHIV immunocompromized models) and critical care studies such as acute lung injury. Research restricted to the ABSL3 environment such as tuberculosis and highly pathogenic influenza studies will also benefit from the ability to perform corollary ABSL2 studies (e.g. low pathogenic studies and longitudinal studies of vaccinated healthy animals), and the presence of a platform for protocol development and piloting in non-infected animals outside of the restrictive ABSL3 environment. The introduction of the preclinical PET/CT system is expected to have a major impact on research using larger animal models, and will enhance the NIAID RBL initiative by providing a complimentary imaging platform at ABSL2 to that at ABSL3. Eight Major User projects from NIH-funded investigators at the University of Pittsburgh that will immediately benefit from this technology are identified.
This proposal is for a unique CT scanner that is to be combined with a preclinical microPET scanner, creating a PET/CT imaging platform geared toward larger research animals including non-human primates. The utility of hybrid PET/CT imaging in the small animal and clinical realms is well established. This system will help facilitate translational research and therapy development, from mouse models to larger animals and ultimately to humans, for wide variety of pathologies, particularly those of the lung such as COPD, lung cancer, acute lung injury, tuberculosis and influenza.
