Developing a Low-cost, Modular, and Open Source In Vivo Imaging System

The goal of this project is to develop a modular, inexpensive (<$1000), open-source, multi-modal in vivo imaging system (IVIS). IVIS systems are used to perform 2D or 3D optical imaging of animals and are critical for a range of research areas including drug discovery, cancer biology, and physiological monitoring. However, commercially available IVIS systems are expensive (>$300k) and are typically limited in expandability or modularity. These instruments are typically accessible only in imaging core facilities at large universities, limiting use by researchers at PUIs, MSIs, smaller universities, and programs without these core facilities. This projects is geared toward democratizing this imaging capability by developing and sharing a modular imaging system which is orders of magnitude less expensive than the commercially available systems by leveraging consumer grade hardware, rapid prototyping approaches, and computational image processing.