Project Grant S10OD036250

SKYSCAN 1276 - PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT HIGH RESOLUTION IN VIVO MICRO-COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (MICROCT) IMAGING AND ANALYSIS OF BONE AND OTHER TISSUES (FAT, MUSCLE, CONTRAST-ENHANCED VASCULATURE) HAS BECOME A "GOLD STANDARD" TECHNIQUE IN LONGITUDINAL STUDIES, BUT OUR INSTITUTION CURRENTLY LACKS SUCH AN INSTRUMENT. AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY (AU) HAS MANY NIH-SUPPORTED PROJECTS THAT WOULD BENEFIT FROM THIS HIGH RESOLUTION TOOL, WHICH WOULD ENHANCE THE PRECISION, RIGOR, AND REPRODUCIBILITY OF OUR INVESTIGATORS' FUNDED AND PRELIMINARY STUDIES. OUR FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES CORE POSSESSES A HIGH-RESOLUTION EX VIVO MICROCT INSTRUMENT THAT IS USED AT MAXIMUM CAPACITY BY INVESTIGATORS STUDYING BONE, TEETH, AND VASCULATURE IN ISOLATED TISSUE SAMPLES, AND A LOWER RESOLUTION IN VIVO DXA INSTRUMENT USED HEAVILY BY INVESTIGATORS STUDYING BONE DENSITY AND BODY COMPOSITION. IN THIS PROPOSAL, A GROUP OF DIVERSE INVESTIGATORS WITH WELL-ESTABLISHED RESEARCH PROGRAMS AND ACTIVE NIH SUPPORT HAVE DOCUMENTED THEIR NEED FOR THE NEW, HIGH- RESOLUTION MICROCT SYSTEM, PARTICULARLY A MACHINE WITH NOVEL IN VIVO CAPABILITIES COMPARED TO THE EX VIVO MICROCT SCANNER CURRENTLY USED. THE FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES CORE AT AU, WHICH RUNS THE EXISTING EX VIVO MICROCT AND DXA INSTRUMENTATION, HAS EXTENSIVE SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL, AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE WITH IN VIVO AND EX VIVO IMAGING TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING MICROCT. OVER THE PAST DECADE, THIS CORE HAS ESTABLISHED AN EXCEPTIONAL NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION FOR TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY AND SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY, REFLECTED BY THE NUMBER OF MANUSCRIPTS PUBLISHED IN REPUTABLE JOURNALS AND SUCCESSFUL GRANT AWARDS. THE COLLECTIVE EXPERTISE IN MICROCT TECHNOLOGY AT AU WILL ENSURE THAT THE NEW IN VIVO MICROCT SYSTEM WILL BE UTILIZED TO ITS FULL POTENTIAL AND WELL MAINTAINED. THE NEW SYSTEM WILL ALSO PROVIDE CRITICAL SUPPORT TO EARLY STAGE INVESTIGATORS AT AU, AS WELL AS CATALYZE MORE COLLABORATIONS AND SERVE AS AN ATTRACTIVE FEATURE FOR RECRUITING NEW FACULTY. THE ADMINISTRATION AT AU IS FULLY IN SUPPORT THE PROPOSAL AND HAS AGREED TO SUPPORT THE ANNUAL SERVICE CONTRACT FOR THE MACHINE; FULL SUPPORT FOR A TECHNICIAN'S TIME WILL BE PROVIDED BY AN ACTIVE PROGRAM PROJECT GRANT (PPG) AWARD AND THE INSTITUTION. HOWEVER, DUE TO STRICT INSTITUTIONAL BUDGETARY LIMITATIONS, INTERNAL RESOURCES WILL NOT ALLOW THE PURCHASE OF A NEW MACHINE WITHOUT THIS FUNDING MECHANISM. IN SUMMARY, THERE IS A CRITICAL NEED FOR THIS IN VIVO MICROCT TECHNOLOGY ON OUR CAMPUS, AND THE ONLY WAY TO ACQUIRE IT IS THROUGH THE S10 MECHANISM. THE NEW MACHINE WILL PERMIT LONGITUDINAL, HIGH RESOLUTION, IN VIVO, 3D, SITE-SPECIFIC ANALYSES OF MINERALIZED AND SOFT TISSUES THAT CANNOT BE PERFORMED WITH EXISTING INSTRUMENTS. PROCUREMENT OF AN IN VIVO MICROCT WILL ENHANCE THE RIGOR OF ONGOING EXPERIMENTS FROM A SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF OUR INSTITUTION'S NIH-FUNDED INVESTIGATORS AND REDUCE OUR INVESTIGATORS' NEEDS FOR VERTEBRATE ANIMALS IN THEIR EXPERIMENTS. OUR CORE HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERTISE IN THE TECHNOLOGY AND HAS DEVELOPED A ROBUST ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE AND OVERSIGHT FOR THE USAGE OF THIS NEW INSTRUMENT. OUR INSTITUTION IS IN FULL SUPPORT OF THIS AWARD. COLLECTIVELY, THIS AWARD WILL BE A WORTHWHILE INVESTMENT THAT SERVES THE MISSION OF THE NIH.