Retinal imaging advances with Toshiba cameras and NorPix software

Irvine, CA--Color cameras from Toshiba Imaging Systems Division combined with NorPix (Montreal, QC, Canada) software are enhancing fluorescence imaging in living retinal tissue and advancing retinal imaging research. The NorPix customized Streampix 5 software interface for Toshiba's IK-TF7 3-chip color cameras used in Phoenix Research Laboratories' (Pleasanton, CA) retinal imaging systems features a built-in, long-integration button with a frame-time-selection window that enhances live animal retinal imaging studies. The complete system has been successfully used to capture imagery from the retinas of mice and rats, performing highly sensitive, in vivo microscopy eye research.

"After a year in development, Norpix’s Streampix 5 software package was a welcome and instant success in our labs," said Greg Sprehn of Phoenix Research Laboratories. "Using Toshiba Imaging's IK-TF7 3-chip cameras with long integration time and low dark noise, the new software (with a corresponding built-in long integration button) allows us to collect photons for several seconds or longer while imaging even fainter fluorescence in living retinal tissue. This exciting new capability will advance retinal regeneration studies that lead to restoring vision in humans, and finding ways to prevent blindness."

Streampix 5 makes it possible to view, control and acquire imagery from single or multiple cameras simultaneously, all in the same user interface. A complete management console for the cameras simplifies the setup, control and acquisition from any number of cameras. In this application, the new commercial software interface combines with Phoenix Research Lab’s Micron III, an advanced retinal imaging system that integrates Toshiba’s IK-TF7 3-chip cameras with synchro-scan mode. The new, highly sensitive imaging system for biology will permit more precision in cell location and promote safer experiments in the lab.

SOURCE: Toshiba Imaging Systems Division; www.cameras.toshiba.com