In vivo Bioluminescence imaging per monitorare la crescita del tumore mammario nel topo

In the present thesis I report some of the results obtained during my traineeship in the Unit of Immunology and Diagnostic Molecular Oncology (IDMO) at the “Instituto Oncologico Veneto” (IOV). During this period, I joint a research team working on tumor immunology. My technical project was in framework of a more complex research to demonstrate the role of collagen matrix density in the breast tumor microenvironment. During the internship I worked as a laboratory technician responsible for mice welfare and husbandry, in vivo experiments and lab organization. Therefore, I had the opportunity to collaborate to the experiment with mice and to learn new techniques. I worked with two different models of breast cancer cultured in 3D matrices with different collagen density transplanted in mice. I show here the setup of the monitoring of the tumor growth for these tumor models by using the in vivo Bioluminescence Imaging with the IVIS Spectrum imaging system (PerkinElmer) and the images analyzed by using the Living Image® Analysis Software and the ImageJ software.