Project: 3D Fluorescent Imaging Cryomicrotome System (3D-FICS) for high-resolution biomedical structure, functional and molecular imaging

3D Fluorescent Imaging Cryomicrotome System (3D-FICS) for high-resolution biomedical structure, functional and molecular imaging

This is a summary of the request.

Whole animal optical imaging represents an upcoming area of translational research that provides information about the molecular events underlying disease processes and treatment effects. The 3D fluorescence imaging cryomicrotome system (3D-FICS) is uniquely capable of reconstructing volumes of whole organs or small animals with very high spatial resolution while co-localizing the detailed structural information with fluorescent (bio)marker activity across an unprecedented spectral range. By alternately sectioning and imaging, the system acquires 3D, high-resolution, large field of view, anatomical and multispectral molecular fluorescence image volumes from sequential images of the tissue block face. The 3D-FICS allows interrogation of deeper tissues where target-specific interactions can be determined precisely by sections. Such a system offers widespread use in pre-clinical studies involving multimodal molecular imaging co-registered with multispectral probe visualization for disease progression and pathology, early response to therapy, and receptor-targeted applications and probe development.

The technological innovations are manifested in 1) micrometer scale spatial resolution for detailed imaging of especially entire mouse specimens; 2) wide spectral bandwidth via ultra-broadband excitation source and fully tunable spectral filtering devices for high-resolution detection of fluorescent proteins as well as exogenous and endogenous fluorophores; 3) detailed analysis of vascular network structure. In this way, the 3D spatial distribution of structure(s) and function(s) related to a large variety of pathological and normal physiological processes can be visualized and quantified.

The proposed research program is multidisciplinary, covering applications in cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, neurological areas, and targeted activatable probe development associated with photodynamic cancer therapy. Participants in the research program include colleagues from several departments within the AMC and collaborations with other research centers (LUMC, MUMC, VUMC, UvA) in the Netherlands.