Our Research Small Animal Imaging Facility

The Texas Children's Small Animal Imaging Facility (SAIF) is located in Feigin Tower. It is approximately 7,530 square feet with a well-equipped procedure suite for preparing animals for imaging with ample volatile anesthetic delivery systems. Robia Pautler PhD is the Co-director responsible for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) services. M. Waleed Gaber PhD, is the Co-director responsible for PET-SPECT-CT/Optical/Ultrasound/Radiation services.

Services (MRI core):

• Mouse and Rat MRI
• Pristine anatomical assessments including fixed and in utero embryo imaging
• Cerebral blood flow
• Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
• Perfusion imaging
• 31P spectroscopy of metabolites
• 1H spectroscopy of metabolites
• 13C spectroscopy of metabolites
• MRI contrast agent assessments
• Diffusion imaging
• Amyloid beta plaque imaging
• Longitudinal tumor volume assessments
• Angiography
• Muscle imaging
• Magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) to assess white matter damage
• In Utero Imaging in Rats and Mice
• CEST Imaging — Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer
• Cardiac Imaging — EDV, ESV and EF Assessments
• Cardiac Imaging — Anatomical Assessments
• Cardiac Imaging — Stress/Strain Calculations
• Cardiac Imaging — In vivo Ca2+ influx changes in Myocardium
• Fat Assessment
• 19F MRI — Imaging Inflammation
• 19F MRI — Imaging tagged cells (e.g. lymphocytes)
• Dynamic Contrast Enhancement (BBB. tumor and placenta permeability)
• NEW -- awake mouse MRI for neuroimaging
• Rs-FMRI in awake animals

Services (PET-SPECT-CT/Optical/Ultrasound/Radiation core):

Small animal imaging: 

• PET/SPECT/CT
• Longitudinal monitoring of disease progression
• Pharmacokinetics of drug delivery
• High quality CT imaging optimized for low radiation dose
• Bone studies using extra high-resolution CT
• Radiolabeling for imaging and gamma counting
• Molecular imaging (PET/CT)
• Tumor growth and metabolism using ¹⁸F-FDG
• Tumor proliferation using ¹⁸F-FLT
• Tumor ¹⁸F-FDOPA
• Cardiac perfusion imaging (SPECT/CT) using 99mTC Sestamibi
• Bone metastasis SPECT/CT imaging using TC99-pertechnetate
• Cell surface receptor localization using radioligands (Ab & peptide)
• SPECT/CT using ¹²⁵I
• PET/CT using Z89
• Theranostic studies (e.g. ⁶⁴CuCl2)
• State-of-the-art image analysis OSIRIX, Fusion, Vivoquant, and Inveon Research Workplace
• Ultrasound/echo imaging using Vevo 3100 equipment
• Cardiac function imaging and AI image analysis
• Cardiac Stress and Strain measurements
• Uterine artery blood flow
• Tumor phenotyping
• Microbubble imaging
• Microinjection capabilities (Image guided)
• Two LUMINA III bioluminescence/Fluorescence imaging equipment
• Intravital microscopy system with Nikon/Evolve camera and Metamorph system

Radiation facilities:

• Whole animal and cell radiation
• Targeted/focal radiation

Ex-vivo tissue measurements:

• Autoradiography Cyclone Plus Phosphor Scanner
• Gamma Counter for radioisotope quantification
• Quantitative pharmacokinetics of drug delivery
• Microscope image stitching at high resolution

Main equipment (MRI core):

• 9.4T, 20 cm bore MRI with AV NEO hardware

Main equipment (PET-SPECT-CT/Optical/Ultrasound/Radiation core): 

• Mediso nanoScan PET/CT 122S/CT1512
• Mediso nanoscan SPECT 4H/CT1512
• Cyclone Plus Phosphor Scanner
• 2470 Wizard Automatic Gamma Counter
• Vevo 3100 Ultrasound/echo imaging equipment
• Two LUMINA III bioluminescence/Fluorescence imaging equipment
• Intravital microscopy system with Nikon/Evolve camera and Metamorph system
• Leica microscope with scanning table for image stitching at high resolution
• Five specialized image analysis stations in a dedicated computation room
• Chemical hood, incubator, centrifuge, and lead bricks for radiolabeling lab
• Thermo Scientific Richard-Allan Scientific HM550 Cryostat

Core co-director (MRI): Robia Pautler, PhD
Contact (MRI): rpautler@bcm.edu

Core co-director (PET-SPECT-CT/Optical/Ultrasound/Radiation): M. Waleed Gaber, PhD
Contact (PET-SPECT-CT/Optical/Ultrasound/Radiation): gaber@bcm.edu