MRI: Acquisition of Biplanar Digital Videofluoroscopy for X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology

芝加哥大学获得并安装了一个双平面视频透视系统，该系统使用X射线通过一种称为运动形态X射线重建（XROMM）的方法测量动物内部的三维运动。 XROMM通过将使用双平面数字视频透视收集的3D运动数据与基于CT扫描的动物解剖重建相结合，生成生物运动的3D测量和动画。XROMM使得有可能测量外部标记物不能附着到其上而不破坏动物功能的内部骨骼元件的运动，以研究小动物（例如对于外部标记物来说太小的小鼠、大鼠和鸣禽）的内部力学，以研究仅在光学不透明环境中（例如在黑暗中、土壤下、水中和/或结构复杂的环境中）表现的动物，并对内部软组织结构如肌肉成像。进行这些测量的能力将加强和扩大芝加哥地区综合和进化生物力学、神经力学和神经科学的研究和培训。特别是，XROMM将在以下领域实现创新：（1）鱼类和两栖动物在复杂的水生和陆生环境中的运动和进食运动的比较，以及它们与四足动物起源时形态进化变化的关系，（2）活体哺乳动物进食过程中三维颌和舌运动的多样性、复杂性和控制，以及它们与哺乳动物起源和辐射过程中摄食系统结构变化的关系，以及（3）大脑在控制一系列肌肉骨骼器官（包括颌骨、舌头、眼肌和手）的3D运动中的作用。这些研究设备将产生研究以外的多重影响，包括教学和培训，公共宣传和展览开发，机器人和应用生物力学。XROMM仪器将为博士后研究人员，研究生和本科生提供在动态知识环境中使用最先进的研究设备，这将使动物运动综合分析的新方法成为可能。研究生课程与访问XROMM将包括：在芝加哥大学，研究生课程在综合生物学，进化生物学委员会，计算神经科学委员会和医学物理委员会;在西北大学，研究生课程在生物医学工程，物理医学康复和生理学;和机构间，跨学科的NSF IGERT计划，运动控制和运动的综合训练。教师和研究生在这些方案积极参与外展当地（姐妹篇4科学;地球村科学项目;脑日），并在国家和国际层面（外展计划在斐济，新几内亚;生命百科全书项目;生物力学展览，自然历史博物馆）。XROMM仪器将通过生成视觉上引人注目的动物运动动画来显著增强这些努力，用于演示和在线分发。在使大脑在运动控制中的作用成为可能的新研究中，该设备将有助于了解运动控制障碍，包括帕金森病和中风。

An award is made to The University of Chicago to acquire and install a biplanar videofluoroscopy system that uses X-rays to measure 3-dimensional movements of the inside of animals through a method called X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology (XROMM). XROMM generates 3D measurements and animations of biological movement by integrating 3D movement data collected using bi-planar digital videofluoroscopy with CT scan-based reconstructions of animal anatomy. XROMM makes it possible to measure movements of internal skeletal elements to which external markers cannot be attached without disrupting animal function, to study internal mechanics of small animals, such as mice, rats, and songbirds which are too small for external markers, to study animals that will only behave in optically opaque environment, such as in the dark, under soil, in water and/or in structurally complex environments, and to image internal soft tissue structures, such as muscles. The ability to make these measurements will enhance and expand research and training in integrative and evolutionary biomechanics, neuromechanics and neuroscience in the Chicago area. In particular, XROMM will enable innovations in the following areas: (1) Comparisons of locomotion and feeding movements of fish and amphibians in complex aquatic and terrestrial environments, and their relationship to evolutionary changes in form at the origin of tetrapods,(2) the diversity, complexity and control of 3D jaw and tongue movements during feeding in living mammals, and their relationship to changes in the structure of the feeding system during the origin and radiation of mammals, and (3) the role of the brain in control of 3D movements of a range of musculoskeletal organs, including jaws, tongues, eye muscles, and hands. This research equipment will have multiple impacts beyond research, including teaching and training, public outreach and exhibit development, robotics and applied biomechanics. The XROMM instrumentation will provide postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students with access to state-of-the-art research equipment in a dynamic intellectual environment that will make possible novel approaches to integrative analyses of animal movement. Graduate programs with access to XROMM will include: at the University of Chicago, the Graduate Program in Integrative Biology, the Committee on Evolutionary Biology, the Committee on Computational Neuroscience and the Committee on Medical Physics; at Northwestern University, the graduate programs in Biomedical Engineering, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and Physiology; and the inter-institution, interdisciplinary NSF IGERT program, Integrative Training in Motor Control and Movement. Faculty and graduate students in these programs are actively involved in outreach locally (Sisters 4 Science; Global Village Science Project; Brain Day), and at national and international levels (Outreach programs in Fiji, New Guinea; Encyclopedia of Life Project; Biomechanics Exhibit, Field Museum of Natural History). The XROMM instrumentation will significantly augment these efforts by generating visually compelling animations of animal movement for presentation and online distribution. In making possible novel research into the role of the brain in control of movement, this equipment will contribute to understanding of motor control disorders including Parkinson's Disease and stroke.