University of Calgary - Advanced Contract Award Notice / Notice of Proposed Procurement - Small Animal Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) System

The University of Calgary (UCalgary) plans to purchase the iNSIGHT Fully Shielded Small Animal Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) system, with integrated anesthesia system including air pump and four (4) year service contract from Scintica Instrumentation Inc. This system will be used for pre-clinical studies of body composition in small animal models and tissues.

This system utilizes Cone Beam scanning which provides fast scan time, limiting the amount of time animal(s) spend under anesthesia and increases the data acquisition rate. Both are necessary for the team and are critical for conducting longitudinal studies. The scan area and detector size are optimized for the animals the research team uses, mice and rats, primarily young mice, as small as 4 weeks of age. Therefore, the highest resolution is critical for accurate spatial assessment. To the team’s knowledge, this device has the highest image resolution on the market; 100 micron for body composition and up to 35 micro for standard radiograph.