IVIS - The "in vivo" Macroscopy

The IVIS Imaging System 200 (Xenogen) enables real time non-invasive monitoring in living animals.

The system is equipped with a CCD camera cooled at -95°C, which is located in a dark room to increase the high-sensivity detection of fluorescence (e.g. GFP) and bioluminescence (e.g. luciferase) emitted by viruses, bacteria or cells.

For living animals, bioluminescence is more suited than fluorescence as it travels more easily through tissues, and has no background (no excitation needed). However fluorescence can be used for surface observations, in which case far red dyes should be preferred.

This equipment was acquired through the Région Ile-de-France funding    

The IVIS Imaging System 200 facilitates non-invasive longitudinal monitoring of disease progression, cell trafficking and gene expression patterns in living animals, which may be of interest for scientists working in the Institute. Potential applications include bacteriology and virology (real time infection follow up), tumor monitoring, cell growth and differentiation, development of the embryo. This equipment is part of the MIMA2 platform.