TORONTO, Canada – October 16, 2009 – VisualSonics Inc., a leader in real time, in vivo, high-resolution micro imaging systems, today introduced the NeuroPak™ Deep Brain Imaging System. NeuroPak™ is a novel technology that provides pre-clinical neurology researchers with the capability to image biological and cellular processes in the brains of conscious animals. It works with the Cellvizio® LAB Imaging System, a miniature endoscopic fluorescence microscope, to allow users to repeatedly image a section of a small animal’s brain, in real time while the animal is awake and moving freely.
“Our Neuropak™ Imaging System allows researchers real time access to tissue, deep in the brain of a conscious animal. Existing research tools limit access to near-surface imaging on sedated animals,” said Anil Amlani, Chief Executive Officer of VisualSonics. “Using this new technology, researchers can now determine how the brain reacts to different stimuli in real time.”
The NeuroPak™ System uses a small implant in the skull of the mouse, placed over the area of interest in the brain, which allows repeated, reproducible insertion of the probe for imaging sessions which can be hours in duration. The CerboFlex™ Probe is a special fiber bundle probe designed to fit the implant that is very flexible and lightweight, thus the mouse is free to move around while the fiber probe is in place. The CellVizio LAB is capable of high resolution, real time imaging of fluorescent tissues, cells and markers at micron levels. Based on a robust, patented confocal technology which employs a high resolution fiber bundle, laser scanning unit and sensitive detector optics, the easy-to-use platform allows real-time imaging of microscopic biology inside a living animal.
“NeuroPak™ is the first commercially available means to simultaneously image and correlate cellular events in the intact central nervous system with the behavioral responses of laboratory mice,” said David Bates, an Application Scientist at VisualSonics. “This imaging technology will enable groundbreaking research in a myriad of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, epilepsy and addiction.”
The technique was developed as part of a research collaboration between scientists at Mauna Kea Technologies and the Institut Pasteur in Paris. VisualSonics is the exclusive global distributor for Mauna Kea Technologies pre-clinical imaging technologies, including the Cellvizio® LAB In Vivo Fiberoptic Fluorescence Microscope, the NeuroPak™ Deep Brain Imaging System and the CerboFlex® Deep Brain Imaging Probe.
About VisualSonics
VisualSonics is the world leader in real time, in vivo, high-resolution micro imaging systems designed specifically for preclinical research. The Company’s cutting edge technologies allow researchers at the world’s most prestigious pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, hospitals and universities to conduct research in cardiovascular, cancer, neurobiology and developmental biology areas. The micro imaging technologies support research applications that include genetic research, phenotypic studies and drug development. VisualSonics micro imaging platforms combine high-resolution, real time in vivo imaging at reasonable cost with ease-of-use and quantifiable results.
About Mauna Kea Technologies
Mauna Kea Technologies, a company with a multidisciplinary scientific approach, leads the growing in vivo cellular imaging market with its flagship Cellvizio® system and its cellvizio.net interactive online database. Cellvizio, the world smallest and most flexible microscope, provides real-time dynamic cellular images in vivo and in situ. It enables researchers and physicians in more than 100 prestigious institutions around the world to raise their practice to a higher standard of efficiency, accuracy and cost-effectiveness. The cellvizio.net scientific knowledge interactive database is enabling an international community of leading scientists and physicians to share their ground-breaking work based on Cellvizio in gastroenterology and various fields of science and medicine.
For further information contact cellviziolab@visualsonics.com