X-ray vision takes centre stage at unique new UK facility
The largest scanner at the facility
Breaking new ground
Prehistoric marine monsters, human tissue, aircraftwings and even fossilised crocodile dung are yielding their innermost secrets to a unique new X-ray Imaging Centre. The facility at the University of Southampton is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The μ-VIS (‘Micro-Vis’) X-ray Imaging Centre produces high-resolution 3D images that enable the internal structures of objects to be studied in incredible detail, without needing to break the objects open or damage them.
3D images of the kind we're producing will shed new light on all sorts of crucial issues, from keeping planes in the air to the impacts of climate change
Professor Ian Sinclair
The 3D images are built up from 2D X-ray projections of the object being examined. This technique – computed tomography (CT) – is already widely used in medicine and other fields. But the centre, which is equipped with five different imaging systems, can complete scans with exceptional speed and handle larger objects than any other UK university facility.
Producing images ten times faster
The largest scanner at the facility.
Professor Ian Sinclair, the centre’s director, says: “It’s our close integration of state-of-the-art imaging hardware,world-class computing and image processing expertise needed to turn the resulting 3D data into new scientific results that will allow us to break new ground. “There are many permutations of object type and size to consider, but for certain classes we can produce images 10 times faster than conventionally achievable and we’re one of very few groups worldwide who can scan objects approaching 2m in length and 1m in width with a micro-focus X-ray source. The centre will in fields ranging from biomedical science to engineering, and from archaeology to modern environmental science”.
Ability to scan large objects
With over 40 scientists from across the University of Southampton involved in its work, the centre will enable the University’s long-established reputation as a centre of excellence in CT to be consolidated and expanded further. “This centre will be a real asset to the UK research community”, says Professor Sinclair. “3D images of the kind we’re producing will shed new light on all sorts of crucial issues, from keeping planes in the air to the impacts of climate change”. EPSRC is providing a total of £1.8M in core funding support to the μ-VIS Centre over the period 2011-2016. This is being supplemented by funding of £0.3M provided by the University of Southampton itself.
Facilities in the centre have already:
A computer generated image of the lower jaw of the pliosaur.
- Examined fossilised crocodile dung from Africa, providing insights into the local water conditions where bipedal apes may have first evolved.
- Generated 3D images of bone grafts to show how they are ‘taking’ to human tissue, down to the level of individual blood vessel formation.
- Scanned contemporary aircraft materials, from metre-scale wing sections down to the level of individual carbon fibres, revealing damage processes vital to future air safety.
- Studied plant roots to understand how these might be affected by climate change and what this might mean for crop productivity and food security.
- Begun examining the Staffordshire hoard which is the largest ever find of Anglo-Saxon gold.
- Revealed the detailed bone structure of a 2.4m-long fossilised skull of a pliosaur (a marine predator from the Jurassic/Cretaceous period) found on the south coast.