Preclinical imaging

Preclinical imaging is the visualization of living animals for research purposes, such as drug development. Imaging modalities have long been crucial to the researcher in observing changes, either at the organ, tissue, cell, or molecular level, in animals responding to physiological or environmental changes. Imaging modalities that are non-invasive and in vivo have become especially important to study animal models longitudinally. Broadly speaking, these imaging systems can be categorized into primarily morphological/anatomical and primarily molecular imaging techniques. Techniques such as high-frequency micro-ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) are usually used for anatomical imaging, while optical imaging (fluorescence and bioluminescence), positron emission tomography (PET), and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are usually used for molecular visualizations.

These days, many manufacturers provide multi-modal systems combining the advantages of anatomical modalities such as CT and MR with the functional imaging of PET and SPECT. As in the clinical market, common combinations are SPECT/CT, PET/CT and PET/MR.

In vivo

Studies that are in vivo (Latin for "within the living"; often not italicized in English) are those in which the effects of various biological entities are tested on whole, living organisms usually animals including humans, and plants as opposed to a partial or dead organism, or those done in vitro ("within the glass"), i.e., in a laboratory environment using test tubes, petri dishes etc. Examples of investigations in vivo include: the pathogenesis of disease by comparing the effects of bacterial infection with the effects of purified bacterial toxins; the development of antibiotics, antiviral drugs, and new drugs generally; and new surgical procedures. Consequently, animal testing and clinical trials are major elements of in vivo research. In vivo testing is often employed over in vitro because it is better suited for observing the overall effects of an experiment on a living subject. In drug discovery, for example, verification of efficacy in vivo is crucial, because in vitro assays can sometimes yield misleading results with drug candidate molecules that are irrelevant in vivo (e.g., because such molecules cannot reach their site of in vivo action, for example as a result of rapid catabolism in the liver).

Lausanne University Hospital

The Lausanne University Hospital (French: Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois, CHUV), in Lausanne, is one of the five university hospitals in Switzerland.

The Lausanne University Hospital is linked to the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne (UNIL).

Organisation

Departments of the University Hospital of Lausanne:

Main campus

In Vivo (EP)

In Vivo is an EP by Loco Locass.

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