Preclinical Imaging and Therapeutics

A generous donation by The Telethon Adventurers in 2010 enabled the purchase and installation of the first multi-spectral live animal imaging machine in Western Australia.

The IVIS Spectrum (named "Elliot's Machine" after a Perth boy who died from medulloblastoma) is an in vivo bioluminescent and fluorescent pre-clinical imaging system.

It enables real time, non-invasive visualisation and tracking of fluorescence or bioluminescent cells, proteins or gene actively within a living animal thereby allowing researchers to detect and track cancer growth and disease progression in laboratory models of disease.

The system integrates a highly sensitive CCD cooled camera capable of detecting exceptional low light levels within a light tight imaging chamber. The instrument is equipped with 10 narrow band excitation filters (30 nm bandwidth) and 18 narrow band emission filters (20 nm bandwidth).

This setup, together with spectral unmixing software algorithms, allows for autoflourescence removal and spectral unmixing allowing researchers to separate signals from multiple fluorescent reporters within the same animal. 3D-diffuse tomography can be performed to determine source localisation and concentration.

Specifications

• In Vivo fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging
• High through put (5 mice) with 23cm field of view
• High resolution (to 20um) with 3.0 cm field of view
• Twenty eight high efficiency filters spanning 430 – 850 nm
• Autofluorescence correction
• Spectral unmixing capabilities
• Reflection-mode or transmission-mode illumination
• 3D diffuse tomographic reconstruction for both fluorescence and bioluminescence
• Heated stage to maintain optimal body temperature
• Anaesthesia manifold for anaesthesia induction
• Living Image software.