Gordon Kindlmann, Richard A. Normann, Arun Badi, Charles Keller, Greg M. Jones, Christopher R. Johnson
Biomedical applications of small animal imaging are creating exciting opportunities to extend the scientific impact of visualization research. Specifically, the effective pairing of non-linear image filtering and direct volume rendering is one strategy for scientists to quickly explore and understand the volumetric scans of their specimens. Microscopic computed tomography imaging is an increasingly popular and powerful modality for small animal imaging. Here we highlight early work from collaborations at the University of Utah between the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute and the Department of Bioengineering, and between the SCI Institute and the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics. In the first instance, volume rendering provides information about the three-dimensional configuration of an electrode array implanted into the auditory nerve of a feline. In the second instance, volume rendering shows promise as a tool for visualizing bone tissue in the mouse embryo, although the signal-to-noise characteristics of the data require the use of sophisticated image pre-processing.
The data for both of these investigations was acquired with a General Electric EVS RS-9 computed tomography scanner at the University of Utah Small Animal Imaging Facility. The scanner generates 16-bit volumes roughly one gigabyte in size, with a spatial resolution of 21 x 21 x 21 microns.
