MRI: Development of microXROMM for high-resolution X-ray motion imaging of small animals

授予布朗大学开发新的生物成像技术“微型XROMM”的奖项。这种microXROMM仪器的精度将是目前XROMM（运动形态X射线重建）的十倍。更高的精度将开辟新的研究领域，以研究目前XROMM太小的动物的骨骼，关节和肌肉，如小鼠，青蛙，蝙蝠和鸟类。MicroXROMM将有助于发现诸如小青蛙如何跳得如此之远，以及蝙蝠的肩膀如何允许飞行中翅膀运动的惊人范围。这些发现为自然界的生物力学提供了基本的见解，也为生物启发的工程设计奠定了基础。该项目将为下一代乐器演奏家提供培训，包括microXROMM设计和测试的本科生和研究生。学生将来自不同的社区，包括历史上代表性不足的群体，从而招募最优秀的人才进入科学和技术发展。在比较生物力学领域，XROMM为动物运动（行走、咀嚼、游泳等）的骨骼运动学研究开辟了全新的领域。然而，超过一半的脊椎动物物种对于目前的XROMM精度来说太小了。microXROMM仪器的空间精度将是目前XROMM的十倍（从0.1 mm提高到0.01 mm），时间精度至少为1 ms（每秒1000帧）。microXROMM的加入将为XROMM对啮齿动物、蝙蝠、鸣禽、热带青蛙、石龙子、变色龙、珊瑚礁鱼、虾虎鱼和小鱼等物种小型群体的研究打开大门。MicroXROMM将更广泛地丰富比较生物力学、生物启发设计以及有机体和进化生物学的基础研究。例如，microXROMM将适用于研究基因敲除小鼠品系，使其特别强大的基因组表型研究。该开发项目的产品将是：（1）布朗大学的多用户microXROMM仪器;（2）同行评审的出版物，描述了设计和验证用于研究小鼠，鱼类和鸣禽等物种的仪器;（3）其他研究人员从美国小企业合作伙伴购买的商业系统。 该奖项由MRI项目基金以及NSF-BIO综合有机系统部门生理机制和生物力学项目的共同资助支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响力审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An award is made to Brown University to develop a new biological imaging technology, “micro-XROMM.” This microXROMM instrument will have ten times the precision of current XROMM (X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology). Greater precision will open up new research areas to study the bones, joints, and muscles of animals that are too small for current XROMM, such as mice, frogs, bats and birds. MicroXROMM will enable discoveries such as how small frogs can jump so far and how the shoulders of bats can allow the amazing range of wing movements in flight. Such discoveries offer fundamental insights into the biomechanics of the natural world, and also form the basis for biologically-inspired engineering designs. This project will provide training for the next generation of instrumentalists by including undergraduate and graduate students in microXROMM design and testing. Students will be drawn from diverse communities including historically under-represented groups, thus recruiting the best available talent into science and technology development. Technology development projects such as this one increase US economic competitiveness through home-grown innovation.In the field of Comparative Biomechanics, XROMM has opened up whole new areas of research on the skeletal kinematics of animal movements (walking, chewing, swimming, etc.). However, more than half of all vertebrate species are too small for current XROMM precision. The microXROMM instrument will have ten times the spatial precision of current XROMM (improved from 0.1 mm to 0.01 mm), and temporal precision will be at least 1 ms (1000 frames per second). The addition of microXROMM will open the door for XROMM research on speciose small-bodied groups such as rodents, bats, songbirds, tropical frogs, skinks, anoles, coral reef fish, gobies and minnows. MicroXROMM will enrich basic research in comparative biomechanics, bioinspired design and organismal and evolutionary biology more broadly. For example, microXROMM will be suitable for studying gene knockout mouse strains, making it particularly powerful for genome to phenome studies. The products of this development project will be: (1) a multi-user microXROMM instrument at Brown University; (2) peer-reviewed publications describing the design and validating the instrument for research on species such as mice, fish and songbirds; (3) commercial availability of the system for purchase by other researchers from a US small business partner. This award is supported by the MRI program funds, and by co-funding from the Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics program in the NSF-BIO Division of Integrative Organismal Systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.