The Microscopy, Imaging & Cytometry Resources (MICR) Core at Wayne State University is pleased to host a seminar on Wednesday, July 19 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. via Zoom and in person at 6364 Scott Hall to showcase new instrumentation available to researchers, the IVIS Spectrum CT In Vivo Imaging System. For those unable to attend in person, the presentation will also be available via Zoom at https://wayne-edu.zoom.us/j/96246147545?pwd=bUowcjk3c3k5eElCd3lHUXpDZzdyZz09

The presenter will be Kevin P. Francis, Ph.D., of PerkinElmer.

PerkinElmer is a global leader in the development of instrumentation and probes for small animal non-invasive imaging, including optical (luminescence and fluorescence) and computer tomography. Through optical imaging, they have developed a technology which allows biological processes, including gene expression that is temporally and spatially defined, to be non-invasively monitored both longitudinally and in real-time.

Genes encoding optical reporters, luciferases and fluorescent proteins, are engineered into cells (cancer cells, stem cells, etc.) and pathogens (bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses), or directly into animals (e.g., for monitoring host responses) to enable the generation of light that can be visualized through the tissues of a live animal. PerkinElmer is the only company to have optimized this technique to allow true three-dimensional optical imaging and tomographic multimodality imaging (e.g., through co-registration of optical imaging with µCT, MRI and ultrasound). Furthermore, this technique is equally applicable to imaging of fluorescent dyes and particles, allowing fluorescently tagged biological events (e.g., tracking of antibodies, peptides, and viral capsids) to be monitored both independently and in combination with genetically tagged events. An overview of in vivo optical imaging will be presented, with an in-depth focus on oncology and infectious disease models.