Micro-Computed Tomography (microCT)
Our equipment can only accommodate small rodents and our imaging services are for research purposes only. Unfortunately, we cannot perform imaging on companion animals, such as cats and dogs.
The Animal Imaging Shared Resource (AISR) offers animal and specimen microCT acquisitions and image analysis to CU Cancer Center member and non-members.
MicroCT is a high-resolution 3-dimensional imaging technique. The physical principle of CT is based on scattering and absorption of x-rays by tissues based on their electron density. There are essentially three levels of attenuation yielding color-coded contrast in CT: air (black), soft tissue (grey shades) and bone (white). Disseminated tumors to the bone and lung are easily detected by microCT in the range of 5-10 microns resolution.
Facility:
The Siemens Inveon microCT system was installed at CU AMC in March 2008.
The new PerkinElmer Quantum GX2 microCT scanner will be installed at CU AMC in August 2020, from a successful NIH S10 Shared Instrumentation for Animal Research (SIFAR) grant.
Protocols:
- High-resolution 3D CT on tumor volumes and metastases detections (in-vivo)
- High-resolution specimen CT (ex-vivo)
- Starting August 2020: breath-gated in vivo lung CT
- Starting August 2020: Quantitative bone density and trabecular bone analysis (in-vivo and ex-vivo)
- Starting August 2020: Quantitative body composition analysis (fat content)
Schedule a Service:
Small Animal Imaging or Specimen Imaging
- To schedule a consultation for animal or specimen CT based studies and study design please contact Natalie Serkova, PhD, Natalie.Serkova@CUAnschutz.edu, 303-359-0870.
- To schedule a CT imaging appointment please follow these for new ilab users, service requests, and equipment reservations.
- You must have an approved IACUC protocol. Please contact Jenna Steiner, AAS, CVT, Jenna.Steiner@CUAnschutz.edu for the instructions, SOPs, and pre-approval of CT studies to your IACUC protocol. Please visit the for more information.
MicroCT images from our ongoing studies:
From: Dr. Achim Klug
From: Dr. Raj Kumar
Contact Us
Natalie Serkova, PhD
Core Director
Office: (303) 724-1086
Natalie.Serkova@CUAnschutz.edu
Jenna Steiner, AAS, CVT
Core Manager
Office: (303) 724-2942
Vadym Zaberezhnyy, MSc
Core Technician
Office: (303) 724-2499
Vadym.Zaberezhnyy@CUAnschutz.edu
Tyler Weiskopf, BS
Irradiator Manager
Location: RC1N Vivarium, Suite 1, Rm 0443