Public Higher Education Bulletin

Purchase Phoenix Research Labs Micron IV equipment and Image-Guided Optical Coherence Tomographer (Micron IV/ OCT)to perform research by multiple investigators for studying anatomical and functional alterations in the ocular tissues in experimental rodent models of eye diseases. Micron IV/ OCT will allow fluorescence and depth resolved imaging of the retina and cornea of living rodents.

Phoenix Research Labs manufactures Micron IV/ OCT imaging equipment which is unique and specifically designed for ocular (both anterior and posterior segment) imaging of rodents (mice and rats) for research. There are no other vendors in the marketplace that manufacture ocular imaging equipment specifically for rodents. Other combinations of equipment and methods are less accurate, less precise, more time-intensive, more labor-intensive, occupy more lab space, allow for little to no fluoresence imaging, and do not allow for longitudinal studies on one specimen because the specimen is sacrificed in the process. Specifically U.S. patent number 7,933,000 is evidence of the unique optical design specification that can be used to produce images of rodent's retina. No other commercially available system has this capability.

There are no other commercially available "image guided OCT" systems that are compatible with the Micron IV and provide live color fundus image and live OCT scan. There are no other vendors that manufacture the full suite of eye imaging products, including color fundus, fluorescence, and OCT imaging for the retina and slit lamp biomicroscopy and OCT imaging for the cornea. These multimodal imaging capabilities are essential to meet research needs of several investigators.

The University has determined that this purchase is only economically available from this source because the item or service is copyrighted or patented and is not available except from the holder of the copyright or patent.