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Cancer Imaging Shared Resource

http://mips.stanford.edu/public/sci3.adp

Faculty Director: Timothy C. Doyle, DPhil
Faculty Advisor: Christopher H. Contag, PhD

Contact

Timothy C. Doyle, DPhil
Scientific Director, Small Animal Imaging Facility
Clark Center E150, 318 Campus Drive
Stanford, CA 94305
Tel: 650-724-8250
Cell: 650-391-7874
Fax: 650-724-4948
Email: timbo@stanford.edu

http://sci3.stanford.edu/
http://mips.stanford.edu/

Overview

The Cancer Imaging Shared Resource provides investigators with support and training to accelerate and refine integrative studies in animal models of human cancer. The resource provides equipment, training and assistance to investigators who use advanced molecular imaging approaches, including the instrumentation, molecular probes and reporter genes necessary for conducting these studies. The shared resource complements the Cancer Imaging Research Program, as well as other programs including Bone Marrow Transplantation and Immunology. Its overall objectives are to help advance our understanding of the molecular basis of malignancy by applying state-of-the-art imaging approaches to sophisticated animal models, to serve as a test bed for advances in molecular imaging that have preclinical and clinical applications and to support the evaluation of novel therapeutic strategies using imaging as an outcome measure.

Services

Imaging

The imaging facility houses a set of standardized imaging instruments and provides the following services and technologies:

  • Small-animal imaging instrumentation for both structural and functional analyses
  • Training and education in imaging of cellular and molecular processes
  • Reagents and support services for optimal in vivo analyses

The Cancer Imaging Shared Resource has state-of-the-art imaging instrumentation for in vivo optical bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging. These include:

  • Cameras with 3D reconstruction algorithms for in vivo bioluminescence imaging (IVIS 3D and IVIS 200 by Xenogen Corp.)
  • Low-light imaging systems with tunable filters and spectral unmixing algorithms for optimal fluorescence imaging (Maestro by CRI)
  • Multispectral fluorescence life-time imaging for multiplexed imaging, with improved signal to noise ratios and 3D reconstruction capabilities (Explore Optics by GE and ART)
  • IVIS® 100 systems for high-throughput animal imaging (Xenogen Corp.)
  • Two microPET systems from GE and Concord Microsystems
  • Two small-animal combined SPECT/CT from ImTech and GammaMedica
  • MicroCT from GE, cryostat/digital autoradiography for validation of 3D in vivo data
  • Small-animal ultrasound from Visualsonics Inc
  • A small-animal 4.7 MRI and a small-bore 7T MR system on order, with a clinical console for rapid translation of new pulse sequences and imaging approaches to the clinic
  • An FT-IR system to reveal spectral signatures of malignancy
  • A fiber-based single-axis confocal microscope from Mauna Kea Technologies (cellvizio® for small animal imaging and cellvizio®GI for clinical imaging)

Educational programs

The shared resource holds regular seminars to introduce new users to the different instruments and describe how to use these systems effectively for high-quality image data.

Data handling

The shared resource maintains a 6-terabyte storage system with both RAID and tape backup. The default for all instruments is to save the image data on this system, with new data backed up daily. The hard drive is accessible to all Cancer Center users over the intranet—it is password protected and maintained by the Clark Center IT team. All data are stored, at present, as raw data. Each instrument has acquisition and analysis software (e.g., IDL on the PET scanner and Living Imaging on the IVIS systems), and the images can be exported in DICOM. The exported images can be analyzed using Velocity, Igor or Amira, which are available in the shared resource.

Operation

The shared resource is located on the basement level of the James H. Clark Center. Small-animal holding facillities for rodents are located directly adjacent to the small-animal imaging suite. There are separate holding rooms for radioactive animals and those with biohazardous materials injected (viruses/bacteria). Access to the Imaging Shared Resource is by authorized card keys, which are assigned to University members. The Imaging Shared Resource is open to users 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with technical support and training available during normal office hours (9 am to 5 pm). Computer support also isavailable on site.

Procedures

Imaging session scheduler

The Imaging Session Scheduler is a web-based scheduliing system that is password protected for confidentiality. The scheduler will list the research study costs for every instrument, and there is a field for inserting the university account billing code. Once the study is complete, the user's account will be billed accordingly. Newer users who require staff assistance and expert users who do not will be assigned priorities in the order that the study is scheduled.

Procedures for new users

  • Users contact Dr. Timothy Doyle with a request to use a specific instrument.
  • Dr. Doyle books a time for new-user orientation/training. The entire training process takes approximately two hours.
  • A research support staff member verifies that the user has the required animal use approval and radiation and biohazard training documentation, and then introduces the new user to the building manager in the Clark Center to get the form that allows access to the building.
  • The new user creates a new account, books an imaging session day and time and returns at a scheduled time to run the experiment.