Brown Scientists to Create New 3-D X-ray System
Posted on February 22, 2007
Scientists at Brown University are developing a new technology that will allow doctors and scientists to see inside living animals and watch their bones move in 3-D as they run, fly, jump, swim and slither.
This high-resolution, high-speed imaging system will contribute to better treatments for knee, shoulder, wrist and back injuries and help scientists understand the evolution of complex movements, from the flight of birds to the leap of frogs.Right now it is just going to be used to study flying bats, frogs and other animals but eventually these types of x-rays could potentially be very helpful to people suffering from joint and back problems. Someday the 3-D technology could be used to study your sore elbow instead of the alligator's. Modern medicine is woefully behind on scanning technology. We are far away from the kind of technology you see in a Star Trek sickbay. Any new advancement in medical scanning is welcomed."This will be like having X-ray vision - you'll be able to see through skin and muscle and watch a skeleton move in 3-D," said Elizabeth Brainerd, the Brown University biology professor overseeing development of the new system. "Imagine animated X-ray movies of flying bats or flexing knees. It's very cool technology that is also very important from a biomedical standpoint."
The system will be designed and built with a $1.8-million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, one of the nation's largest philanthropic organizations and a major supporter of pioneering discoveries in science, engineering and medical research.
The system will fill a void in medical and scientific imaging. Right now, researchers trying to understand the complex motions of bones and joints are held back by technology. Computed tomography, or CT, delivers detailed 3-D images, but CT scanners are too slow to capture rapid motion. Cinefluoroscopy, a technique that uses X-rays to view objects, can produce moving images in two dimensions, but not 3-D.