AXT Establishes Preclinical Imaging Portfolio with MR SOLUTIONS Product Lines

To coincide with the start of the Lorne Cancer conference, AXT are proud to announce the commencement of their distributorship with MR SOLUTIONS, a world leader in the development of innovative preclinical imaging solutions.

Based in the UK, MR SOLUTIONS are responsible for having developed and manufactured the world’s first range of commercial, superconducting, cryogen-free (no liquid helium or so called dry magnet), preclinical MRI systems up to 7 Tesla suited to in vivo investigations in many areas of research such as oncology, developmental biology, cardiovascular disease, neurology and drug development.

The MR SOLUTIONS product range forms the basis of AXT’s new preclinical imaging products portfolio. Their MRI systems are complimented by their multimodality capabilities with imaging modalities such as PET and SPECT for real-time / simultaneous imaging with MRI. Along with these MRI and nuclear technologies, the product range is complimented by their new innovative 3D optical imaging system – the CellLive miniaturised confocal endo-microscope.

Steve Hunter, AXT’s newly appointed Business Development Manager for in vivo Products said that he is extremely excited about being able to continue his relationship with MR SOLUTIONS. He also commented that “we look forward to building on the existing installations in Australia and the prospects are very promising with in vivo imaging being a vital tool in the growth area of translational medicine research in Australia.”

When asked about the new business arrangement, Fabrice Chaumard VP, Global Sales and Marketing said, “we are proud to be associated with AXT who have a proven track record in developing new business areas. Our technologies make a perfect fit with their existing product lines. We also see Australia as a leader in biomedical research and look forward to teaming with researchers down under to develop and commercialise new treatments.”

The flagship in the MR SOLUTIONS product line is their MRI imaging systems. It features their cryogen-free superconducting magnet technology which eliminates the need for liquid helium cooling, thus providing many benefits not the least being reducing running costs. All MR Solutions MRIs are self-shielded which means that room shielding is not required and the lack of liquid helium means that all the costly installation requirements such as quench pipes are not required. The MRIs have extremely small fringe-fields and can be operated next to other sensitive laboratory systems. This means that multi-modality imaging, a common requirement for the researcher, is easily achieved.

The systems come with field strengths from 3.0 to 7.0T and bore sizes from 17 to 31cm making them suited to all small animal models. PET and SPECT modules expand the MRI system providing multimodal imaging capabilities, with the different data sets able to be simultaneously acquired. Another unique feature of these MRIs is that it is possible to operate the same MRI at different field strengths, further enhancing the powerful capabilities of these instruments.

MR Solutions have also partnered with Optiscan (an Australian Company) to produce the CellLive confocal endo-microscope. This system is a world first providing in vivo 3D fluorescence imaging with minimal invasiveness at sub-micron resolution. At the heart of the system is an imaging probe less than 3mm in diameter but with full 3D scanning capabilities. This benchtop system includes an animal workstation with physiological monitoring and a powerful 3D image analysis software package to obtain detailed understanding of what is happening in the subject animal.

AXT’s preclinical imaging portfolio is further augmented by the Rigaku nano3DX x-ray microCT system which is also suited to the imaging of small animals. The Rigaku nano3DX micro CT system features extreme contrast for imaging of biological specimens, a rotating anode x-ray source with interchangeable radiation sources, 0.6µm resolution, a large field of view and artefact-free stitching for imaging of large specimens.

Another announcement is also imminent that will bolster AXT’s pre-clinical imaging portfolio.

Posted February 11th, 2015