by Jennifer Kowalewski
The
OUµCT, a high-end piece of technology housed at the Edison
Biotechnology Institute (EBI) on the Ridges, opens up worlds of
exploration and possibilities by its precision imaging of the
insides of small organisms and objects. The power of this
microCT scanner greatly advances the research capabilities of
Ohio University researchers.
CT scanners use X-rays to peer
inside a subject by digitally “slicing” the subject like a loaf
of bread. Lawrence Witmer, Ph.D., professor of
anatomy, says conventional CT scanners, such as those used in
hospitals, look at slices of the human body in 1- to 5-mm.
sections. The OUµCT, which serves several university
departments, can look at a considerably smaller slice, one
around 0.027 millimeters — one-third the diameter of a human
hair. This results in higher resolutions of structures within an
organism. The OUµCT is capable of resolutions of 92, 45 and 27
microns.
“This scanner gives us a
tremendous ability to look inside an organism,” Witmer says.
“But beyond that, it allows us to digitally extract, measure and
visualize aspects of structure in ways not possible just a few
years ago.”
The university’s nanobiotech
research initiative, which included OU-COM researchers as well
as those from across the university, pushed for the purchase of
the $250,000 scanner. Unlike larger CT scanners, in which a
whole human body fits inside, the OUµCT allows researchers to
see inside organisms no larger than an orange.
Witmer and his team put the
scanner through its paces and created protocols and procedures
on how to scan everything from lab mice to dinosaur fossils.
Also, Witmer and his
team have developed a training program for those using the
OUµCT.
As he showed the inside of a
mouse, scanned into the computer via the scanner, he explains
the device showed the fat below the surface of the skin in a 3D
model created via a computer program. The OUµCT allows
researchers to take very precise measurements, as well as map
internal organs, he says.
David Wight, Ph.D., director of
EBI, says the OUµCT allows the research facility to perform
excellent soft-tissue analysis. Edison scientists focus on
diabetes, obesity and cancer, including formation of tumors,
often utilizing mice models. If they had wanted a scan before
the university bought the microCT scanner, the mice would have
been shipped out and risked being contaminated, making the scan
a one shot deal.
With this scanner in place,
researchers can make scans of their test subjects over time.
“It allows us to do the kinds
of soft-tissue analysis we could not do before,” Wight says. “We
can monitor tumor growth over time. We can show fat development
on obese animals. This makes it much easier to do longitudinal
studies.”
“This state-of-the-art
equipment allows us to be competitive in writing grant
proposals,” he adds. He says the equipment came to the
university as a result of the University Research Priority,
which focuses on health and biomedical research.
The OUµCT has taken images of
200 million-year-old dinosaur fossils, as well as an alligator
embryo, the temporomandibular joint of a pig, the stomach of a
lobster and the front end of a cockroach. It allowed researchers
to see inside the dinosaur skull without breaking apart the
fossilized structure.
Some of its 3D images were on
display in posters at the college’s Research Day.
“I am really excited that Ohio
University has this kind of technology,” Witmer says. “Even some
bigger institutions don’t have this state-of-the-art scanner.
“We still don’t know all the
things we can do with this. We have a great opportunity to be
creative and original—to answer questions we never even thought
we could ask.”
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News for
the week of Oct 2 – Oct 7
