Learn About the In Vivo Imaging System (IVIS) Facility
On Thursday, February 29, 2024, at noon, during the bimonthly Pathways to Success at Einstein Cores seminar series, learn how Einstein’s In Vivo Imaging System (IVIS) Facility can aid your research. The seminar may be accessed via Zoom.
To begin, scientific director Louis Weiss, M.D., M.P.H., will provide an overview of the resources and services of the facility. He’ll be followed by Johanna Daily, Ph.D., and Xingxing Zang, Ph.D., who each will share how the core has enhanced their respective research efforts.
FIComm’s Pathways to Success seminar series offers insights into Einstein’s various cores and shared facilities. On Thursday, February 29, learn about the IVIS facility.
About the IVIS Core
The IVIS facility provides access to the Caliper Life Sciences IVIS Spectrum intravital imaging system that enables longitudinal three-dimensional, intravital imaging of animals or tissue expressing bioluminescent (e.g., Firefly luciferase) or far-red fluorescent probes. Einstein investigators have used the system to follow tumor growth, tumor metastasis, and progression of infectious diseases. The facility is housed within BSL2 animal space.
Please note that investigators planning to use the facility for imaging of whole animals must have their experimental protocol approved by the Animal Institute prior to any experiments being conducted.
Core Services
Services:
- Intravital imaging of small animals
- Bioluminescence imaging (luciferase) of whole animals
- Far-red fluorescence imaging of whole animals For details describing each piece of equipment and how it can be used, view the facility’s page.
What They’re Saying:
“In the core facility we have a Spectrum IVIS system. Now known as Revvity, you may be familiar with the system by its earlier names since it was originally Xenogen and was then marketed by Caliper, which was later acquired by Perkin Elmer. IVIS can be used effectively to monitor tumor or cellular migration and to monitor dissemination of a variety of pathogens. Because the luciferase or fluorescence activity can be monitored without sacrificing animals, a particular advantage of using the system is that longitudinal measurements can be made on individual mice over time. The signal is proportional to cell number and can be readily quantified using the software available on the IVIS.”
Louis Weiss, M.D., M.P.H.
Scientific Director, IVIS Facility
“The in vivo core facility allowed us to monitor the tissue burden and distribution of a strain of Plasmodium falciparum expressing the protein GFP over time and in relation to motor function. These in vivo studies spare the number of animals needed as we can reimage them over time. These data set a benchmark for us to screen drugs that may reduce tissue sequestration and increase survival.”
Johanna Daily, M.D., M.S.
Professor, Medicine; Microbiology & Immunology
“The IVIS Core has been crucial for my lab to investigate cancer immunotherapies with novel immune checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cells.”
Xingxing Zang, Ph.D.
Professor, Microbiology & Immunology; Oncology; Medicine; Urology
Louis Goldstein Swan Chair in Women’s Cancer Research
Posted on: Wednesday, February 28, 2024