Advanced NHP Research Capabilities: Molecular Imaging
BTS Research has partnered with BioLaurus Inc. , an advanced molecular imaging group to bring new research capabilities to our pharma research clients.
The gold standard for pre-clinical research has long been the non human primate (NHP) but access to NHP and advanced research capabilities has become ever more challenging. To meet this challenge there are two prerequisites ; the first requirement is a world class facility and staff and the second requirement is advanced molecular imaging capabilities and expertise in imaging and analysis.
Molecular imaging offers unique benefits most important of which is in vivo whole animal PK/PD. Other benefits include:
- Longitudinal study design with time points over seconds to days.
- Translational alignment between preclinical and clinical research models
- Transformative true functional in vivo imaging verifies GLP tox studies.
- Disease staging that reduces dramatically the variability of disease models by placing only animals with the same disease stage on study.
- Imaging assay development based on in vitro and in vivo iterative optimization allowing seamless research cycling.
- Real time bio-distribution that can detect on/off target distribution in all organs and tissues resulting in 3D images and with multiple time points over time, 4D results.
Molecular imaging studies require a variety of expertise from animal handling to surgical expertise, to animal scanning to image analysis. Putting all these moving parts together may seem daunting but that is precisely why pharmaceutical drug discovery and drug development researchers come to BioLaurus. BioLaurus makes advanced molecular imaging accessible. Over the ten-year existence of BioLaurus our researchers have developed the expertise to conduct a wide range of NHP studies including
- Blood brain permeability studies
- Brain PK/PD and receptor occupancy analysis
- Stereotactic implantation
- SPECT (nuc med) Autologous Platelet survival curves and organ sequestration
- T cell biodistribution and trafficking
- Experience with small molecules, Anti Sense Oligonucleotides, and biologics
- Ultrasound vascular and cardiac imaging including strain analysis
- Flow cytometry to ; qualify cells for in vivo injection, track cells , and Receptor Occupancy analysis.
