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GlowLab – Laboratory for Regenerative Neuroscience

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GlowLab – Laboratory for Regenerative Neuroscience

GlowLab – Laboratory for Regenerative Neuroscience is a new, multipurpose research facility for preclinical brain research, established at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine within the scope of EU FP7 RegPot project Glowbrain. The core of the facility is the multimodal imaging unit, applicable to various biomedical problems. With support of University of Zagreb School of Medicine, which funded the renovation and adaptation of the laboratory, the total investment in the new high-tech research infrastructure reached €2 million.

To enable longitudinal preclinical studies, GlowLab’s multimodal imaging unit is complemented with a dedicated cell-culture lab and an adjacent surgery for performing procedures on small laboratory animals. The lab also comprises a unit for housing laboratory animals under examination, which is currently being equipped and is expected to become functional soon.

Find out more about GlowLab’s units from the links below. For more info on services and prices, please visit GlowLab homepage or send us an e-mail.

In vivo imaging laboratory

The key instruments in the imaging unit are the ultra-high field magnetic resonance imager (MRI) operating at 7 Tesla field (Bruker Biospec 70/20 USR) which can deliver images at near-histological resolution, and the optical imager (IVIS Spectrum, Perkin Elmer) capable of observing bioluminescence (BLI) and fluorescence (FLI). BLI and MRI are complementary imaging technologies. While BLI offers maximum sensitivity, MRI is characterized by superior spatial resolution. Together, they enable complex in vivo monitoring applications, such as observing the integration of stem cells in the brain of a mouse. The key idea of GlowLab is combining these two imaging modalities into multi-modal imaging, whereby the same animal is imaged with both instruments and both obtained images are used to extract additional information that may not be possible to get by either of the methods alone.

Cell culture laboratory

The cell culture laboratory is the second pillar of GlowLab. It is equipped with all necessary equipment for cell isolation and culturing, and includes a fully motorized microscope with on-stage incubator (EVOS FL), allowing longitudinal monitoring (time lapse) of cells cultured directly below the microscope lens. The lab can also serve for the development and testing of biomaterials. The position of this unit, adjacent to the surgery with the two rooms connected by a communication window, simplifies the workflow in complex experiments without compromising the bio-safety level.

Micro-surgery laboratory

The Micro-surgery unit completes the backbone of GlowLab, and revolves around a dedicated operating room for performing all necessary surgery on mice and rats, such as medial cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), isolation of stem cells, their transplantation via stereotaxic injection, and other procedures. Complementing the surgery unit is an animal facility for temporary housing of animals used in the experiments. The main benefit of the integrated animal housing unit is minimizing animal stress during longitudinal experiments. The nominal housing capacity of the facility is up to 400 mice and 100 rats, which is sufficient for simultaneous longitudinal studies and one-off experiments. The animals will be kept in individually ventilated cages (IVC) to satisfy highest sanitary standards and allow experiments on various strains of animals without risk of cross-contamination.