Selvita expands its service portfolio
The expansion introduces state-of-the-art preclinical imaging systems
17 Nov 2023
Selvita has introduced state-of-the-art PET/CT and optical imaging systems in its animal facility. The latest acquisition marks a significant extension of the company’s service portfolio and aims to bridge the gap between early drug discovery and the clinical stage of drug development.
Selvita identified in vivo imaging in preclinical stages of drug development as a true market need and has decided to make a step towards making this part of the drug discovery process more accessible to its clients. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is one of the most widely used imaging modalities to investigate the metabolic and molecular activity of a tissue.
Selvita has acquired MOLECUBES' PET scanner, β-CUBE, to conduct studies that monitor the uptake of of radioactive tracers (e.g. 18F-FDG) in different organs and tissues. β-CUBE is a compact, intuitive, flexible benchtop PET scanner with a spatial resolution of less than 1 mm and an axial field of view of 13 cm. Its unique animal holder – the mouse hotel – enables scanning up to four mice at a time, and coupled with a fast and simple workflow, raises considerably the experimental throughput. During imaging, animals are typically under isoflurane inhalation anesthesia, and heated pads are used to avoid hypothermia.
In parallel, live parameters can be monitored using an ECG probe, rectal temperature probe, and breathing monitoring pad. The data generation, reconstruction, and analysis are performed in widely used VivoQuant software. The PET β-CUBE can be used as a stand-alone unit or in conjunction with MOLECUBES' micro-CT scanner, the X-CUBE.
The CT X-CUBE offers a 3D reconstruction of the whole animal or ex vivo organs with a 50 μm isotropic resolution and a 20-cm field of view for a whole body scan. High throughput of the X-CUBE is achieved by the same unique animal holder that is compatible with all MOLECUBES' devices alleviating the need for additional animal positioning and speeding up the workflow even further. The use of the same animal holder for both devices allows smooth co-registration of CT and PET images facilitating data analysis.
The X-CUBE can also be used as a stand-alone unit with ECG, temperature, and breathing parameters monitored in real-time and used for cardiac and respiratory gating, modalities that are of utmost importance in pulmonary or cardiac studies.
