1. An in-vivo optical molecular imaging method for producing an image of an animal, comprising: acquiring, from an animal positioned on an imaging platform, a time series of image data sets of a targeted optical contrast substance within the animal, the time series obtained by taking a plurality of images at distinct times following introduction of the contrast substance into the animal, using an optical detector, wherein each image data set is obtained at a selected time and has the same plurality of pixels, with each pixel having an associated value for each time in the time series, the imaging platform having a surface for supporting the subject in a desired arrangement in a field of view of an optical detector operable to acquire an image of a subject within the field of view, and wherein at least one mirror is arranged at an angle with respect to the imaging platform surface such that multiple views of the subject are within the field of view of the optical detector, and wherein a processor is configured to process image data received from the optical detector; determining a plurality of distinctive time courses based on the image data sets, analyzing the image data sets to separate, for each pixel of a plurality of pixels, the associated values into a plurality of components, each of which is associated with one of the time courses, and generating an image of the animal wherein the value at each pixel of the generated image corresponds to the value of the component associated with a single time course, wherein time courses are (T org1 (t), T org 2(t),. . .) and the time courses are used in a linear non-negative least-squares fit to image time series data M(r,t) to resolve spatial distribution of pixels r with t time course (I org1 (r), I org2 (r), by solving: M ⁡ ( r , t ) = [ I org ⁢ ⁢ 1 ⁡ ( r ) ⁢ ⁢ I org ⁢ ⁢ 2 ⁡ ( r ) ⁢ ⁢ … ⁢ ⁢ I org ⁢ ⁢ N ⁡ ( r ) ] ⁡ [ T org ⁢ ⁢ 1 ⁡ ( t ) T org ⁢ ⁢ 2 ⁡ ( t ) ⋮ T org ⁢ ⁢ N ⁡ ( t ) ] , and wherein the steps of acquiring, determining, analyzing and generating are performed on a machine-readable medium that includes instructions executable by the processor.