Imaging and Tomography

The 21st Century Biology class is working with The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) to perform
telemicroscopy with the center's electron microscopes. The students will then perform tomography, translating
the two dimensional images from the electron microscopes into three dimensional images which provide detailed structural information.

Imaging

Imaging is defined as the creation of a visual representation of the measurable property of a person, object, or phenomenon. An imaging system is the device that creates an image, either creating a visual map of what the eye can already see or converting what the eye can not see into a visual representation. Imaging science is the pursuit of a scientific understanding of imaging or an imaging technique. With the invention of the compound microscope in 1590 by Zacharias Janssen and the development of the reflecting telescope in 1609 by Galileo Galilei, imaging became a viable scientific resource.This trend conntinued with the development of the camera by Geroge Eastman in 1888 and X-rays by Wilhelm Rontgen in 1895, furthering scientists in their ability to study the inner workings of the human body. Today, imaging science has developed into its own field, viewed as fundamental to the expansion of our understanding of microscopic systems. Although microscopic imaging was developed mainly for biological research, nearly all scientific fields have found ways to take advantage of imaging research. Astronomers map distant galaxies, oceanographers map the sea floors, chemists map the distribution of atoms on a surface, and electrical engineers map the electromagnetic fields around power transmission lines.With the recent surge in electronic and computer advancements, modern imaging utilizes cutting edge technology to create a window to previously inaccesable and imperceptable areas of the world around and within us.

Telemicroscopy

Telemicroscopy is the remote operation of imaging equipment. This term includes any form of microscopy that involves an intermediary between the operator and the tool. In the past, this could be consist of a third party scientist directing the use of the equipment via phone, mail, or any other form of communication. With the recent exponential growth of both the computer and the internet, much of this communication has become digital. In its current form, telemicroscopy consists of the interaction between three parties. The first party is a scientist or group of scientists, working in a location seperate from the microscope. Using a computer, the scientists connect to the internet, log into the telemicroscopy service, and send commands. The second party, the computer that controls the microscope, is located with the microscope. This computer controls access to the microscope and provides a viable remote interface to control the equipment. It receives the commands sent by remote scientists, and converts these to instructions that the microscope can follow. In turn, it receives data sent by the microscope, converts it to digital data, and sends the data across the internet to the remote operators. The third party is the actual microscope, which receives commands from the local computer, follows the commands, and sends the image or video to the controlling computer. The microscope must be able to be controlled electronically, but as long as the a computer can be used locally to control the equipment, the system can be used for telemicroscopy. Essentially, the internet (or other telecommunications device), allow the remote operators to use the equipment as if they had physical access to the controlling computer.

Tomography

Tomography is the generation of a three-dimensional model from two-dimensional data. This provides an important tool to scientists because biological systems exist in three dimesions, but most forms of microscopes, including transmission electron microscopes, X-ray, and light microscopes only output two-dimensional images. Computer programs can then interpret this data to compile a three-dimensional set of points and surfaces, which makes up a model. It does this my using multiple "slices" of the target objects, focusing the microscope at different depths, and recording each part of the two-dimensional image as a point with X, Y, and Z coordinates. Alternatively, different angles can be used if the microscope cannot selectively focus at a chosen depth. Understandably, this operation takes extensive computer processing power, as it integrates data from hundreds or thousands of high-resolution images. Until recently, this level of processing power had been limited to large institutions, but with the exponential increase in computer processing power, coupled with the exponential decrease in relative cost, analysis of this nature has moved into the realm of colleges, smaller labs, and soon, high schools. When paired with telemicroscopy, this procedure could allow an object of interest to be placed in a microscope anywhere in the world, photographed hundreds or thousands of times, then sent electronically across the world where a computer would then assemble the data, calculate the model, and create an accurate electronic counterpart that the remote scientists could study and understand.

Links

The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research

The 21st Century Biology class is working with The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) to perform telemicroscopy with the center's electron microscopes. The students will then perform tomography, translating the two dimensional images from the electron microscopes into three dimensional images which provide detailed structural information.

Imaging 2002

Our imaging and tomography page from 2002.