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We’re Iconeus – a Paris-based company who have invented and commercialized an easy-to-use functional ultrasound system for imaging changes in cerebral blood volumes. It’s sensitive, fast, high-resolution, and it can be used on moving animals.
Iconeus One is a breakthrough in preclinical research – a system that allows brain activity in mice, rats and other small animals to be imaged quickly and easily. Iconeus One is:
Functional ultrasound uses multi-plane-wave ultrasound to
generate 2D images of blood flows across the brain in a
matter of seconds. This makes it possible to follow changes
in neuronal activation over time (thanks to the neurovascular
coupling), or to generate 3D images of the entire brain
vasculature.
As well as allowing mobile animals to be imaged using our
compact probes, functional ultrasound provides far greater
spatial and temporal coverage than the restricted ‘snapshots’
possible with conventional ultrasound. It’s also inherently
sensitive, allowing it to spot small changes in neuronal
activation much more readily than fMRI.
Functional ultrasound has many applications in neuroscience, including in fundamental brain research, drug development, and investigations into neurodegenerative disorders and stroke (see our full list of publications for examples). But across all of these areas, there are four main ways in which fUS can be used:
As beta tester, I had the opportunity to follow the maturation of Iconeus One, from an early version to the commercial product. Right from the beginning I was fascinated how little effort it takes to obtain activation maps of the mouse brain. No long preparation time, just sedation and fixation of the animal, and the experiment can start. Resolution is amazing – even small mouse brain regions are covered by several voxels. Brain regions can automatically be identified, and the software efficiently guides the positioning of the sensor head. This makes fUS an ideal tool for routine studies of the effects of compounds on brain network activity.
We’ve assembled a talented team here at our facilities in
Paris: experts in neuroscience, ultrasound physics and software
engineering work side-by-side to develop new product features, and
to fine-tune the technology for emerging applications.
So whatever you’d like to talk about – from the finer points of
determining resting-state functional connectivity to the approximate
price for a tailored Iconeus One system – there’s bound to be
someone who can help (and they’re probably sitting next to us!).
