Development of an Integrated Serial Grinder and Photo-Imager for 3D Fossil Reconstruction

1028768 Maloof该补助金支持一个为期两年的项目，以开发一个自动化的串行研磨机和图像分析系统，能够快速和高分辨率的3-D成像的小（厘米级）钙质化石嵌入碳酸盐相。由于缺乏合适的密度对比度，X射线计算机断层扫描将无法工作，溶解或解聚技术也无法工作，标准的手动连续切片抛光和随后的摄影最终构建化石形态的3D图像是非常耗时的，并且极大地限制了研究此类化石遗迹的进展。PI最近的研究集中在对新元古代化石的人工检查上，这些化石似乎是在澳大利亚东南部弗林德斯山脉的叠层石相中发现的海绵，并且似乎在所谓的雪球地球时期幸存下来，同期岩石的同位素证据表明全球冰川作用。一个主要的悬而未决的问题是，这些生物如何能在这样的环境中生存下来。研究新元古代早期生命形式的快速方法的可用性将阐明这个问题，该系统也将有助于研究化石遗骸和宿主基质几乎没有密度对比的其他早期生命形式。开发涉及将成像系统与市售的串行研磨机相匹配，并开发机器代码和成像例程，以实现自动串行研磨和3D化石图像构建和可视化。该项目将涉及普林斯顿大学的博士后，PI和普林斯顿计算科学系的一位具有图像分析专业知识的同事。该项目还将包括与一家专门从事数字设计和制造的私营公司SITU Research的合作。他们将负责开发机器代码，以将研磨机与成像系统相匹配。本科生将从事机器测试的样品制备工作。

1028768 Maloof This grant supports a two-year project to develop an automated serial grinder and image analysis system capable of rapid and high resolution 3-D imaging of small (cm scale) calcareous fossils imbedded within carbonate facies. Given the lack of suitable density contrast in such fossiliferous rocks, x-ray computed tomography will not work, neither will dissolution or disaggregation techniques, and standard manual serial sectioning polishing and subsequent photographing to ultimately build a 3-D image of the fossil morphology is extremely time consuming and greatly limits progress in studying such fossil remains. The PIs recent research has focused on manual examination of Neoproterozoic fossils which appear to be sponges found in stromatolitic facies of the Flinders Range of southeastern Australia and which appear to have survived throughout the so-called Snowball Earth time period where isotopic evidence from contemporaneous rocks suggest a global glaciation. A major outstanding question is how such organisms might have persisted in such an environment. The availability of a rapid method for study of early life forms from the Neoproterozoic would shed light on this question and the system would also be useful for study of other early life forms where the fossil remains and the host matrix offers little to no density contrast. The development involves mating an imaging system to a commercially available serial grinder and developing the machine code and imaging routines to allow for automated serial grinding and 3-D fossil image construction and visualization. The project will involve a postdoc at Princeton, the PI and a colleague from the Princeton computational sciences department with expertise in image analysis. The project will also include a partnership with a private firm, SITU Research, that specializes in digital design and manufacturing. They will be responsible for the development of the machine code to mate the grinder with the imaging system. Undergraduate students will be engaged in sample preparation work for machine testing.