Contact Points
Primary Contract Specialist
Secondary Contracting Officer
Cambridge, MA 02141
The essential characteristics of the CRO Services from LifeCanvas technologies Inc. that limit the availability to a sole source are Clearning, Labelling and SMARTSPIM imaging of rodent brains. Only this suggested source can furnish the requirements, to the exclusion of other sources, because this is the only commercial service available for this custom service.
Human studies of brain-based mechanisms of irritability are limited and have yielded mixed results. Preliminary clinical studies in patients with DMDD find that high levels of irritability following frustration correspond with increased frontal-striatal activation in ACC, dlPFC, caudate, amygdala, and parietal cortex. However, human fMRI studies inferring neural activity from blood flow changes, suffers from low spatio-temporal fidelity and cannot identify the impact at neuronal ensemble level. We plan to use whole brain imaging in a mouse model of irritability-like behvaiour to identify the brain regions selectively activated by irritability for further mechanistic studies using cutting edge neuroscience technologies and drill down on the circuits and mechanisms. Specifically, mice harboring a Fos-driven tamoxifen-dependent Cre recombinase (cFos-iCreERT2) with a tdTomato reporter gene (TRAP2 mice) under 4-hydroxy tamoxifen control will be used for imaging.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Intramural Research Program (IRP), Unit on Synapse Development and Plasticity requires the purchase of CRO services from LifeCanvas Technologies Inc for processing and imaging/analysis of whole mouse brains. Their extensive expertise in tissue processing and imaging, as well as robust image analysis methods for complex, information-rich is much needed for our research project.This whole brain imaging is aimed to map the activated neurons brain-wide and LifeCanvas Technologies is the sole source commercial service available for this project
After we ship the paraformaldehyde fixed mouse brain samples to the LifeCanvas technologies,
CRO services include SHIELD processing, Clearing that renders the brain samples transparent , Labeling for Neuronal marker with NeuN antibody , followed by 2-Channel SmartSPIM based light sheet imaging of mouse brain.
- 2 channel imaging (561 nm fro tdTomato and 647 nm fro NeuN) are to be performed with a 3.6X objective at 4 μm step size. - After imaging, data is to be aligned to Allen Brain atlas using the NeuN channel, and tdTomato+ cells are to be counted.
- Coronal sections and heatmaps will be generated, and all imaging data will be loaded onto an external hard drive.
Interested parties may identify in writing their interest and capability in response to this requirement. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.
All responses must be received by closing date and must reference the announcement. Responses may be submitted electronically to the attention of the contract specialist. Fax responses will not be accepted.
All responsible sources may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency.