Microscopic dual-energy computed tomography (microDECT) imaging of animal tissues using laboratory-based microCT scanners: the colour of X-rays

Please join us for the Virtual Pub on Friday, May 9th at 13:00 CEST. We welcome Stephan Handschuh, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, for a talk entitled, "Microscopic dual-energy computed tomography (microDECT) imaging of animal tissues using laboratory-based microCT scanners: the colour of X-rays". Find the abstract of Stephan's talk below.

All are welcome to join!

Abstract

Microscopic X-ray computed tomography (microCT) is a structural imaging technique that provides genuine isotropic 3D images of non-transparent biological samples at micron resolution. Over the past two decades, microCT has gradually become a routine technique because it is non-destructive, provides quantitative data, and can be easily combined with other modalities such as light and electron microscopy in correlative imaging workflows. X-ray dense contrast agents are routinely used to enhance contrast in non-mineralised biological tissues. Such stained biological specimens potentially contain a great deal of spectral information, as different contrast agents have specific properties when imaged with a polychromatic X-ray spectrum. However, conventional laboratory-based microCT scanners use monochrome (energy-integrating) sensors, so the spectral information is usually lost on the detection side. Dual-energy CT is one way to recover spectral information from samples. The talk focuses on the technical principles as well as several dual-energy CT applications, including the imaging of microvasculature, skeletal development, and tissue biopsy samples.  It will be demonstrated that effective spectral X-ray imaging can be performed on any commercially available microCT scanner.