Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

<p>Funding is requested for equipment that will allow the non-invasive analysis of body composition in small mammals. Information on body composition is essential in a wide array of domains in the natural sciences. The equipment specified in this application allows very rapid determinations of lean body mass and adipose (fat) mass. Remarkably, results are generated in approximately one minute. The EchoMRI provides the fastest and most accurate analyses, compared with any other equipment worldwide. It is the gold-standard approach, and used by international leaders in the fields of animal physiology, endocrinology and metabolism. </p> <p>EchoMRI&trade; technology utilizes the safety of quantitative magnetic resonance (QMR) techniques to make direct tissue measurements, as opposed to trying to calculate tissue densities from X-ray (radiation) images in order to produce the necessary tissue characterizations.&nbsp; Importantly, analyses are non-invasive; animals do not even need to be anesthetized. Thus, if needed, one animal can be analyzed many times over the course of a treatment study. EchoMRI&trade; is also capable of automatically distinguishing between free water and total body water, which is a measurement technique that is unique to EchoMRI&trade; method. Reporting total body water measurements, as a separate, stand-alone parameter is proprietary to EchoMRI&trade;, and not available using any other device on the market.&nbsp;</p> <p>The EchoMRI-700 model is appropriate for mice and other small mammals, up to a body weight of 700 grams. Beyond providing much needed body composition data for many ongoing research studies at the uOttawa, there is a specific need for the lean body mass data for the accurate interpretation of metabolic rate data. Metabolic rate data are acquired in our 12-chamber indirect calorimetry system and the EchoMRI-700 will, for example, provide lean body mass from 12 mice within about 15 minutes.</p> <p>This leading-edge equipment will allow extensive hands-on training of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduate students, and technicians from many laboratories. Individuals can be trained for equipment use in under an hour. This will provide them with practical and theoretical skills that are marketable in any future positions in metabolic physiology or related disciplines. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Altogether the EchoMRI-700, by providing non-invasive, very rapid and accurate determinations of body composition, is much needed and will be extensively used by many investigators and trainees to support their research.&nbsp;</p>