Phase contrast imaging of soft tissue

The visualization of specific cell populations in living animals represents an important challenge in the context of neurodegenerative disorders. Specifically, to follow and analyze the progressive cell degeneration of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra will dramatically increase our knowledge of the mechanistic events of Parkinson’s disease. Similarly, the possibility to visualize the integrity of encapsulated cells will allow a more robust screening of encapsulated clones for clinical application.

Together with our collaborators, we aim to visualize cell populations either encapsulated and implanted in a rodent brain or within the substantia nigra of a mouse brain using phase contrast X-ray microtomography. The project implies the realization of the whole experimental setup, the definition of the sample preparation protocols and the development of the data analysis tools. New contrast methods are available (phase and darkfield imaging) that need to be further investigated and optimized.

People

• Dr. Samuel McDonald
  

Collaborations

• CIBM: Centre d’ Imagerie Biomedicale, Lausanne, Switzerland
• BMI: Brain and Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
• University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland