Southwest Animal Imaging Resource

The Southwest Animal Imaging Resource (SWAIR) is a multi-imaging modality center created at the University of Arizona through funding from the National Institutes of Health. This resource combines Optical Coherence Tomography (through this lab) with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) headed by Drs. Robert Gillies and Art Gmitro, and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), headed by Dr. Harry Barrett. The main goal of the SWAIR is to allow NIH-funded investigators to add imaging to their research protocols, thus increasing the quantity and quality of data obtained. In many cases, these non- or minimally-invasive imaging modalities have the potential to decrease the number of animals used in research. Recent SWAIR OCT project include imaging of mouse skin tumors with Dr. Tim Bowden, imaging the change in diameter of rabbit arteries under pulsatile pressure, and measuring flow in mouse arteries.

An encapsulated subcutaneous tumor in mouse skin. Compression of the overlying skin and a keratinized region are seen.


The Southwest Animal Imaging Resource website can be found at: www.swair.arizona.edu