Design of an image-guided robot system for measurement, biopsy and injection in rodents

We are developing an image-guided robot system to achieve highly accurate placement of thin needles to in-vivo rodent tumor tissue in a predefined pattern of about 1 mm granularity. The multiple uses of needles are: (1) oxygen tension measurement, (2) biopsy, and (3) injection of adenoviral sequences in form of a liquid agent. This paper focuses on the design of the base robot system to achieve the initial objective of inserting pO₂ probes in a three-dimensional (3D) grid pattern defined with respect to a positron emission tomography (PET) scan of the tumor. The design is also compatible with other imaging modalities, including single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which will be used for future applications.