PRE-CLINICAL IMAGING FACILITY

Animal Biosafety Level 3 (A-BSL3) Laboratory

Our state-of-the-art A-BSL-3 facility is designed for research involving infectious agents that require high-level containment. This includes work with pathogens such as M. tuberculosis. The facility enables high throughput investigations investigating the progression of diseases or the time-dependent effects of new treatments in a safe and controlled environment.

Technical Safety Specifications: Our A-BSL3 Laboratory is certified by the Department of Agriculture Land Reform & Rural Development (DALRRD). All procedures adhere to specific technical specifications that ensure our research community is protected from exposure to dangerous pathogens. Our state-of-the-art ventilation system includes HEPA air filters and negative room pressure protecting against unwanted infections.

SPECT/CT Scanner

This versatile imaging system provides high-resolution CT and SPECT imaging in a single compact scanning device, making it ideal for cancer detection, cardiac imaging, and brain imaging – including image-guided quantification of radioactivity for all modalities.

PET Scanner

This high-resolution PET scanner offers superior imaging quality and resolution. It is equipped with advanced software for accurate image reconstruction and quantitative analysis.

Optical Imaging System

This powerful optical camera tool allows for studying fluorescent, bioluminescent and radioactive compounds (using Cherenkov imaging) in small animals. This makes it an ideal tool for high throughput investigations investigating the progression of diseases or the time-dependent effects of new treatments.

Gamma Counter

This allows researchers to quantitatively study very low levels radioactivity within samples. This tool is most often applied to compound biodistribution investigations.

Autoradiography

This device is used for measurement of radioactivity within samples, for example slice-by-slice with an organ or tissue.

Individually Ventilated Cage System

This unique cage system ensures that animals are housed within a stable environment (humidity, temperature and ventilation) to minimize stress and allow for ethical study conditions. An individual ventilated cage system designed for remotely monitoring environmental conditions of the housed animals. Allows real-time monitoring and data tracking before and after interventions. The PCIF is not a breeding facility.

Complimentary Services

• Radiosynthesis of new compounds as part of radiopharmaceutical development.
• Assistance with study design and Ethical Approval
• In-Vitro Studies
• Disease Model Development
• Drug Toxicity and Tolerability Investigations

Services provided by PCIF

• Academic Support to (scarce) Infrastructure*
• Study Design & Consultation
• Assistance with (Animal) Ethics Approval incl. DALRRD S20 application
• Animal Model Development **
• Animal Handling & Welfare
• Access to basic cell culturing & radio-biochemical assays in vitro
• Custom tracer development ***
• Non-invasive multimodal imaging of small animals (anatomical, functional, and molecular)
• Quantitative Image Analysis ^
• Access to BSL-3 incl. Imaging capabilities
• Automated Gamma Counting & Biodistribution
• Ex vivo Imaging & Autoradiography
• Metabolite analysis ex vivo
• Radiation & Biosafety support
• Data Archiving
• Training & Access Programs