Intravital Microscopy with Cellular-Level Resolution: Live Animal Imaging

In this talk, IVIM Technology’s All-in-One real-time intravital two-photon and confocal microscopy system will be introduced. The imaging system has been extensively optimized for in vivo cellular-level imaging of internal organs in live animal models for various human diseases including cancer. It can acquire real-time multi-color sub-micron resolution microscopic images in a live animal model with automatic motion compensation, enabling direct imaging analysis of complex cancer immune-microenvironment consisting of various immune cells, stromal cells, vascular cells, and extracellular matrix.

Intravital microscopy is a unique imaging technique to visualize various in vivo cellular-level dynamics such as cell trafficking, cell-to-cell, or cell-to-microenvironment interactions in a live animal. Intravital imaging of cellular dynamics in a natural physiological microenvironment can provide unprecedented insights into the dynamic pathophysiology of human diseases that were impossible to obtain through conventional histological observations of ex vivo samples or in vitro culture systems. During the last decade, intravital microscopy has become a highly valuable, indispensable technique in wide areas of biomedical sciences such as immunology, neuroscience, developmental and tumor biology. Notably, in vivo visualizations of gene expression, protein activity, cell trafficking, cell-cell / cell-microenvironment interactions and various physiological responses to external stimuli have been successfully achieved. Additionally, intravital microscopy is a unique tool for the development of new therapeutics and diagnostics by providing improved accuracy and reliability in vivo target validation with delivery monitoring and efficacy assessment. It has been used to directly analyze the delivery and efficacy of new biopharmaceuticals such as antibodies, cell therapy, gene therapy, nucleic acids, and exosome in an in vivo microenvironment.