Media release

From: Dodd-Walls Centre

Neuro-imaging systems such as MRI scanners are hugely expensive, but imagine if you could build one for animal testing from off-the-shelf components for under USD$10,000? That’s just what a group of scientists led by Te Whai Ao – Dodd-Walls Director, Professor Frédérique Vanholsbeeck of the University of Auckland has achieved.

A report by Dr Vanholsbeeck and her team has just been published in the Gold Open Access journal Neurophotonics outlining the development, with an update in SPIE News. The scanner, or mesoscope, is a microscope enabling both a large field of view and at the same time very high resolution detail. The research team tested their system in a series of experiments involving in vitro imaging of rat brain slices and in vivo (live) imaging of neonatal mice and rat brains.

“The careful selection of components ensured its compactness, portability, and versatility, meaning that different types of samples and sample holders can be easily accommodated to enable a wide range of experiments both in vivo and in vitro,” says Dr Vanholsbeeck.

The low-cost development could make neuroimaging more accessible to scientists, and further advance neuroscience and brain medicine.