Biomedical imaging and metabolomics Section

Presentation

UCIM’s Biomedical imaging and metabolomics section features the following platforms to give support to researchers:

Imaging Platform

The section has a great variety of equipment used for in-vitro imaging. They are non-invasive techniques allowing to obtain radioactive and non-radioactive optical images. From them, anatomic and metabolic information (cellular function) can be obtained. Depending on the applied technique, it’s sometimes necessary to administer certain agents/contrasts, both radioactive (radiopharmaceuticals) and non-radioactive (bioluminescent & fluorescent agents and/or X-ray contrasts). One of the upsides of this type of techniques is the possibility of carrying out pathology evolution and treatment efficacy studies.

Likewise, the platform features an X-ray irradiation system allowing to irradiate small research animals, tissues, cells, biological samples, etc. Moreover, it includes a camera allowing for irradiation and image acquisition at the same time, an application which is particularly useful in the X-Ray image-guided radiotherapy field.

Metabolomics platform

This part works on obtaining metabolomic profiles of liquid, solid and semisolid samples. Different kinds of spectres are obtained; and from them, a series of quantifiable metabolites are determined. This quantification is sometimes done with patterns and/or standards.

Moreover, the section has a series of devices allowing to obtain levels, histograms and scatter charts of all the different blood cell populations. On the other hand, they additionally enable to determine the concentrations of a great variety of biochemical indicators in whole blood, plasma and/or serum.

Services

At present, the central line of the laboratory is an spectrometer of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) of 14,1 Tesla (600 MHz) equipped with 4 measurement probes. These probes allow to obtain NMR spectra in a wide variety of samples which include biofluids (blood serum, plasma, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, tears, cell culture medium, etc.,) tissues (tumor biopsies, resections, liver punctures among others), cell lines (umbilical cords, hepatocytes).

This equipment is a key element for the development of the Metabolomics area with special emphasis on biomedical applications. Some of the available probes allow to work with very small amounts of sample (4-5 tissue micrograms and up to 10 microlitres of liquid).
On the other hand the equipment has a microimage probe with 3 different coils which can obtain Magnetic Resonance Images in high-resolution small samples and with the possibility to obtain a valuable molecular information.

– HR-MAS Probe; it allows to obtain the metabolic tissue profile (biosies, resections, punctures) and semisolid (cell cultures). The probe allows to work with quantities of sample between 5 and 25 µg.
– Probe of 5 mm; Conventional probe used for obtaining metabolic spectra in liquid samples including all types of biofluids. The quantity of sample used usually is 500 µL although depending on the initial concentration dilutions for inferior volumes can be obtained.
– Probe of 1 mm;very suitable for small sample volumes, we can work with numbers 10-20 µL. For the measurement, the sample is prepared in a capillary of 1 mm diameter. The resolution and quality of the obtained spectrum is comparable to conventional probe. Ideal for the study of animal models where sample availability is very limited.
– Microimage Probe; equipped with 3 different coils it allows us to obtain magnetic resonance images of a very high quality for samples up to 1cm2 (biopsies, resections, cardiac tissue, biomaterials).

Procedure

The samples must meet some previous requirements in order to be accepted by the metabolomics service:

– Users must inform in detail of the origin of the sample (human or animal), type (tissue, biofluids, cell culture), quantity (total number of samples and approximate volume), dangerousness and recommended precautions in the handling.
– The samples must be unequivocally marked for their perfect identification.
– Users must compulsory determine whether they wish to recover the sample once the measures are completed or authorise to the service for the destruction of their destruction.

The metabolomics service will not accept:

– infectious samples or samples with Extreme danger in handling.
– human samples which are not completely anonymous.
– unidentified samples or samples defectively marked.

To facilitate the storage and subsequent handling of samples, we recommend users to provide the service samples in a suitable format for the type and volume of sample. In the case of biofluids with a minimum volume of 500 µl, we recommend to send the samples in vials of 1.5 ml. It is recommended, whenever possible, to contactthe service before starting to accumulate samples to determine the best way to deliver the sample.

Equipment

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer – NMR 600MHz (Bruker).
Bruker IMPACT II LC-MS and GC/MS (UHPLC/GC/MS-Q-TOF) chromatography equipment.
Hematology and Biochemistry Platform:
- Element HT5:
- Skyla VB1:
- EuroLyser
- I STAT-1:
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Equipment (MR-SOLUTION MRS*DRY MAG 3T).
Radiator + OptiMAX (XRAD225-XL, PRECISION / TECNASA).
IVIS – X5 (PerkinElmer).
Micro PET-CT.