An In Vivo Small Animal Optical Tomography Imaging System

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I Project proposes to develop an optical tomography imaging system for in vivo small animal imaging. This system will support both active exogenous imaging of oxy/deoxy-hemoglobin using near-infrared laser sources and endogenous light sources from bio-luminescent or fluorescent probes .With the goal of developing a state-of-the-art small animal scanner, this Phase I project will investigate source/detector configurations to determine the optimum geometry to maximize image resolution and to minimize cost. This will be followed by the development of novel image reconstruction algorithms and of innovative methods to achieve quantitative imaging for bioluminescent and fluorescent optical probes. The commercial application of this project is in the area of animal imaging. Animal imaging methods are important in the evaluation of new drugs and in basic biomedical research.