inviCRO offers a range of services and software solutions designed to incorporate imaging into drug discovery and development efforts.  We offer full-scale pre-clinical imaging contract research services with experience across many species and therapeutic areas including oncology, neurology, cardiology, nephrology and auto-immune.  Our analysis services support in-house imaging efforts with rapid image processing turnaround and/or custom analysis for novel efforts including translational projects.  Additionally, we offer two software platforms, the VivoQuant™ Image Processing Suite and the iPACS® Study Management System, supporting post-data collection processes with powerful analysis modules available as add-ons for detailed brain segmentations, batch-processing tumors and more.

inviCRO’s team of experienced imaging scientists led to the development of our current spectrum of imaging software and services.  Our team of highly-specialized scientists and analysts is motivated by a collective vision of helping clients utilize the power of imaging to quickly bring tomorrow's life-saving therapies to the public.

inviCRO Brochures

inviCRO was founded with a mission of improving the value of imaging in drug discovery and development.  inviCRO founders, Dr. Christian Lackas and Dr. Jack Hoppin, began their work together at the Forschungszentrum Jülich assisting Dr. Nils Schramm with the development of multiplexing, multi-pinhole SPECT technology.  Later they joined Bioscan, Inc. to lead the commercialization of this technology through the development of the NanoSPECT/CT®, the market-leading microSPECT/CT and the recipient of the Frost & Sullivan’s Excellence in Technology Award for Preclinical Imaging.  Through their work with clients in imaging laboratories, Hoppin and Lackas recognized the demand for improved informatics to expand the role of pre-clinical imaging in drug development.  Thus, inviCRO was founded to provide custom data analysis software and services dedicated to extracting the most value from imaging efforts.

Leadership Team

Christian Lackas, Ph.D.  Managing Partner
Dr. Lackas is Co-Founder and Managing Partner.  He is the primary architect of inviCRO’s software platforms and manages the continued development of inviCRO’s growing array of software solutions for imaging laboratories.  Dr. Lackas holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Aachen University completing thesis work on high-resolution, high-sensitivity SPECT applications under the direction of Dr. Nils Schramm at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.  Dr. Lackas has extensive experience in software development and molecular imaging applications.

Janna Murgia, MBA Chief Operating Officer
Ms. Murgia was a founding member of inviCRO and is inviCRO’s Chief Operating Officer.  She began her career in program and organizational management for not-for-profit institutions.  After completing an MBA with honors from the Universiteit Maastricht (Maastricht, The Netherlands), she transitioned into the corporate sector as Cause Marketing Manager for Macy’s. There she worked on national awareness and fundraising campaigns that raised an average of $5 million annually in her area of geographic responsibility.  At inviCRO, Ms. Murgia manages all aspects of business operations.

Jacob Yost Hesterman, Ph.D. Director of Image Analysis
Dr. Hesterman is inviCRO’s Director of Analysis.  His work focuses on the development of novel processing methods for improved quantitative analysis of longitudinal imaging studies.  Dr. Hesterman holds a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences, having completed a research project in small-animal SPECT at the Center for Gamma Ray Imaging.  Prior to joining inviCRO, Dr. Hesterman managed Bioscan’s NanoSPECT/CT project for several years while living in Budapest, Hungary.

Kelly Davis Orcutt, Ph.D. Director of Translational Research
Dr. Orcutt is the Director of Translational Research at inviCRO. She received her B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT with the support of an NSF Fellowship. Her research focused on the development of a novel approach to targeting radionuclides to tumors from both mathematical and experimental perspectives and was advised by Professor Dane Wittrup. Following her graduate work, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Molecular Imaging, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School.