Acquisition of Equipment for Three Dimensional Organismal Reconstruction, Analysis and Modeling

从细胞到种群，有机体的世界是三维的、动态的。生物分析即将迎来一场革命。在历史上，从来没有足够的设备和计算能力让大多数生物学家快速、定量地从一个组织级别移动到另一个组织级别。我们正在进入一个前所未有的一体化时代。为此，我们建议为生物学家创建一个独特的设施，其中包括允许获取、分析、展示和在世界范围内交换三维(3D)结构、功能和行为的设备。在本提案中，我们需要四个主要的、最先进的设备：3D立体显微镜(“实时”、大景深、分辨率增强)、3D激光数字化仪(能够在15秒内以14,580点/秒的速度以0.05 mm的分辨率对整个生物体进行扫描)、3D高速成像仪(能够在5秒内将58,000个分割图像直接存入存储器)和图形计算机集群，以处理、分析和交换图像和数据。极大地促进或使其成为可能的项目包括：行为的神经基础、形态发生的生物力学、消化的肠道化学反应模型、四足动物到最早的原始人的3D肌肉骨骼模型、昆虫运动的3D动态全身模型(这为自主腿机器人的设计提供了生物学灵感)、恐龙行为和影响世界海洋生物的流体运动。拟议的基础设施设备将促进：跨学科方法的利用、思想的交流、创建新的调查领域、博物馆数据收集和分发的新方法、与工程师、计算机科学家和私营部门的新合作，以及对未来生物学家的新培训。

From cells to populations, an organism's world is three dimensional and dynamic. Organismal analysis is on the verge of a revolution. Never in history has the equipment and computing power been sufficient to allow most organismal biologists to move rapidly and quantitatively from one level of organization to another. We are entering an era of Integration that is simply unprecedented. To this end, we propose the creation of a unique facility for organismal biologists which consists of equipment that will allow acquisition, analysis, presentation and world-wide exchange of three-dimensional (3D) structure, function and behavior. We request four major, state-of-the-art pieces of equipment in the present proposal: a 3D stereo-microscope ("real-time", large depth-of-field, resolution-enhanced), 3D laser digitizer (capable of whole organismal scans in 15 sec at 14,580 points/sec with 0.05 mm resolution), 3D high-speed imager (capable of capturing 58,000 split images in 5 sec directly into memory) and a graphics computer cluster to process, analyze and exchange the images and data. Projects greatly facilitated or made possible include: the neural basis for behavior, biomechanics of morphogensis, gut-chemical reactor modeling of digestion, 3D musculo skeletal modeling of tetrapods to the earliest hominids, 3D dynamic whole-body modeling of insect locomotion (which has provided biological inspiration toward the design of autonomous legged robots), dinosaur behavior and the fluid movements that affect organisms in the world's oceans. The proposed infrastructure equipment will promote: the utilization of approaches across disciplines, cross fertilization of ideas, the creation of new fields of investigation, new approaches for museum data collection and distribution, new collaborations with engineers, computer scientists and the private sector, and novel training of future organismal biologists.