CIMA (Centre d’Imagerie Multimodal Appliquée), dedicated to preclinical imaging, is a large-scale project carried out by the CRCI²NA – INSERM UMR 1307 – CNRS UMR 6075 nuclear oncology research team.
It was born thanks to a co-financing FEDER – State – Region Pays de la Loire – Nantes Metropole, supported by the University of Nantes and the CHU of Nantes.
The stakes of the CIMA project for preclinical research are to allow the development of multimodal medical imaging at the regional level by relying on an environment of excellence (LabEx IRON, LabEx IGO, Equipex ArronaxPlus, Siric ILIAD, FLI, i-site NExT) and a set of multidisciplinary skills.
The CIMA project benefits from the innovative radionuclides developed by the Arronax cyclotron as well as from a unique and internationally recognized network of expertise to develop and evaluate new radiopharmaceuticals for PET imaging.
CIMA is located in the garden level of the Jean Monnet building on the Nantes University Hospital site. It is coordinated by Professors Michel Chérel and Eric Frampas in the framework of a steering committee. It is equipped with a micro PET/CT Iris (Inviscan), a prototype simultaneous PET/MRI (RS2D/Inviscan) and a whole environment of scientific equipment (thermoregulated imaging cells, high-energy glove box, automatic gamma counter, microbiological safety station) necessary for the preparation and analysis of radiopharmaceuticals.
The CIMA benefits from equipment acquired thanks to the Equipex ArronaxPlus : Beaver multi-isotope digital autoradiography apparatus coupled to an image acquisition computer and cryomicrotome usable in radiative conditions. It also houses a prototype XEMIS 2 3-photon imaging camera, developed by the Subatech laboratory located at the IMT Atlantique.
