All-optical kinetic imaging system generates real-time images of biodistribution and biological activity in small, live animals

Woburn, Massachusetts - December 1, 2010

Cambridge Research & Instrumentation, Inc. (CRi), a leader in multicolor imaging solutions for preclinical and clinical research, today announced the latest addition to an already impressive number of awards. The Scientist, Faculty of 1000’s magazine of the life sciences, announced the winners of the “Top 10 Innovations of 2010”, among them CRi’s Maestro Dynamic™ in-vivo imaging system.

Watching drugs or biologics pulse through a patient in real time usually takes expensive equipment such as a PET and/or CT scanner. For in vivo mouse studies on tight budgets researchers commonly bind a fluorescent marker to the compound of interest, and take a fluorescence snapshot. The natural background fluorescence of the entire mouse—which makes it hard to distinguish the target from normal tissue—is then subtracted away to sharpen the image. But subtracting background fluorescence in a live movie proved challenging. So the scientists and engineers at Cambridge Research & Instrumentation Inc. (CRI) took a page from PET scan technology: using the compound’s pharmacokinetics—the rate at which the drug is absorbed, circulated, and excreted—they improved the resolution by compensating for the background at every time point.

The technology, called Maestro Dynamic, could be especially useful for tracking how long cancer drugs remain at their target before being metabolized and/or excreted. Normally, to obtain data about drug accumulation in organs or tumors, one would sacrifice a cohort of mice every hour or two over the course of a day. By continually collecting data in real time, says James Mansfield, director of the company’s multispectral imaging systems, the number of mice needed could be reduced from around 100–200 to about 10.

About CRi, Inc.

Cambridge Research & Instrumentation (CRi) develops and markets optical imaging systems to advance biomedical research and molecular-based drug and diagnostic development. CRi’s patented systems enable researchers and clinicians to quantitate multiple disease and drug response markers in intact tissue samples, at a cellular level or in living small animals. CRi’s products integrate a unique multispectral imaging technology with proprietary image analysis algorithms to achieve unparalleled accuracy and sensitivity, rapidly and cost-effectively. CRi’s award-winning systems include Nuance™ and TRIO™ for multispectral imaging on brightfield and fluorescence microscopes; inForm™ automated image analysis software; Vectra™ for high-throughput slide imaging and analysis; and Maestro™ for in-vivo optical imaging. Learn more at http://www.cri-inc.com.