MPI Research is proud to announce the availability of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) services through a collaborative effort with Luminare Molecular, a new, leading edge Molecular Imaging Company. In demonstration of our commitment to this exciting area of development, we are acquiring a Concorde Microsystems (concorde.ctimi.com) Focus 120 PET tomograph for our Mattawan site. The availability of this state of the art PET tomography will allow the immediate integration of molecular imaging to our preclinical programs, particularly in our oncology services. Molecular Imaging is receiving steadily increasing use in both clinical and research environments, due to its ability to quantitatively monitor physiological processes and compound distribution. The non-invasive nature of the technology makes it ideal for obtaining translational data, linking animal efficacy, toxicology and ADME directly to the human clinical setting.

James Laveglia, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Director of Research, commented, “PET technology represents an important future direction for preclinical assessment of therapeutics in animals. We are excited about PET’s initial use in oncology product assessment and its ability to evaluate tissue distribution of pharmaceuticals in living animals. PET has many potential uses beyond these areas as well. We see a continued expansion of imaging services including anatomical imaging (MRI, CT), custom chemistry services and on-site isotope generation.”

J. Paul Shea, Ph.D., Principal, Luminare Molecular, commented, “Through this collaboration, we are bringing Molecular Imaging out of academia and into a professional, regulatory oriented, CRO environment. This will enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies of all sizes to incorporate the unique power of molecular imaging in their preclinical assessment of new therapeutics and establish critical translational links to their clinical development plans. PET technology has established itself as a primary diagnostic and monitoring tool in clinical oncology. We are excited to bring this technology to the preclinical assessment of new oncology therapeutics, particularly in orthotopic xenograph models where tumor growth is difficult to monitor. Current tumor models only allow for tumor size to be used as a measure of compound efficacy. PET will allow us to assess tumor death both in a quantitative and qualitative manner not only by tumor size, but also allow us to visualize cell death where tumor size has not been affected. All this can be accomplished in real time without sacrificing the animal.”

MPI Research exists to provide comprehensive preclinical research that meets the requirements of pharmaceutical, medical device, animal health and chemical companies as well as governmental agencies as we partner together to bring safer, healthier products to the world. MPI Research employees specialize in a wide variety of scientific disciplines including toxicology, pharmacology, metabolism, pathology, clinical pathology, reproductive and developmental biology, veterinary science, neuroscience, experimental therapeutics, immunotoxicology, analytical chemistry, computer science, regulatory science, and statistics.

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