In 1991, Ge Wang produced the first paper on spiral cone-beam computed tomography
(CT), now an imaging technique used in the mainstream of the medical CT field.
Today, Wang, known as a pioneer in this field, and his colleagues have been
awarded more than $1.3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to
develop the next-generation nano-CT imaging system, which promises to greatly
reduce the required dose of radiation. Virginia
Tech and Xradia, a leading nano-CT company, are also collaborating on the
project with a cost-sharing investment of close to $800,000.
 | | Virginia Tech researchers are developing the next-generation nano-CT imaging system, which promises to greatly reduce the required dose of radiation. |
CT is an imaging method that shows objects by sections or sectioning, through
the use of x-ray waves and computer processing.
“X-ray nano-CT is a cutting edge imaging tool,” Wang said, “but
a long-standing barrier to realizing its full potential is its inability to
precisely reconstruct an interior region of interest within a larger object
from purely local projections.”
Wang, the Samuel Reynolds Pritchard Professor of Engineering at Virginia Tech,
has a scholarly record of achievements in the imaging world. More than 1000
scientific citations are attributed to his group’s pioneering efforts.
In 2002, for example, he and his research group pioneered another highly sensitive
imaging procedure called bioluminescence tomography (BLT). One application of
the in vivo molecular imaging technology became the identification of tumors
in live animals.
As an additional example, in 2007 he and his collaborators, Yangbo Ye of the
University of Iowa and Hengyong Yu, who is the associate director of Wang’s
CT lab, patented a novel x-ray imaging method called “interior tomography”.
Interior tomography, Wang said, was “a first step” towards overcoming
the long-standing barrier to realizing the full potential of x-ray nano-CT.
Despite the ability of this cutting-edge imaging tool as a non-destructive,
non-invasive recorder of information, it cannot “precisely reconstruct
an interior region of interest within a large object from purely local projections,”
Wang said. And, when used in medicine, a patient is subjected to “a radiation
dose that must be increased dramatically to obtain improved resolutions.”
Wang suggested to the NSF that the combination of X-ray nano-CT and interior
tomography will provide “a versatile nano-imaging tool that can visualize
fine features within a larger object, and use a much lower radiation dose and
in much less time.” This new work is the foundation of the NSF project.
Working with Wang on this NSF grant are Chris Wyatt, associate professor of
electrical and computer engineering, Linbing Wang, associate professor of civil
and environmental engineering, and Yu, all at Virginia Tech. Also, David Carroll,
associate professor of physics at Wake Forest University, is a member of the
team. On the industrial side, the key collaborators are Steve Wang, S. H. Lau
and Wenbing Yun.
Together, they believe they can construct this next generation of a nano-CT
imaging system that will provide images that will reveal deeply imbedded details,
including subcellular features. And, they believe they can handle a sample that
is ten times larger than what is currently available, and at much reduced radiation
dose,” Wang explained.
Wang, director of the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical
Engineering Sciences' biomedical imaging division, http://www.imaging.sbes.vt.edu
is also the founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Biomedical
Imaging. He is the associate editor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Medical Imaging and others.
SBES is part of the University’s Institute for Critical Technology and
Applied Science (ICTAS). http://www.ictas.vt.edu/index.shtml. ICTAS has already
developed a state-of-the-art nanoscale characterization and fabrication laboratory
with capabilities on par with the best nanotechnology labs in the world. With
his high-end 500 nanometer micro-CT system, newly funded by the National Institutes
of Health (NIH), Wang is making efforts to build an advanced multi-scale CT
facility in synergistic combination with the existing university resources as
shown in the following chart.
“We are realizing our dream to establish the world’s most advanced
comprehensive multi-scale and multi-parameter CT facility,” Wang said.
The use of the facility will be available to other universities and industry.
Posted September 2nd, 2009
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