* creating better treatments for shoulder, wrist, knee and back injuries;
* driving innovations in computer graphics and scientific visualization.

The project cuts across disciplines and brings together a diverse team of Brown researchers. They include bioengineer Joseph Crisco, computer scientist David Laidlaw, orthopedic experts Braden Fleming and Douglas Moore, and biologists Stephen Gatesy, Thomas Roberts and Sharon Swartz. Brainerd, a professor of medical science in Brown's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, leads the team.


The grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, paired with matching funds from Brown, will pay for the X-ray machines, treadmills and other equipment for a new CTX facility on campus. But creating the imaging technology will be a mainly computational challenge, so funding will also support substantial software development.

Brown faculty and students are already at work on pilot projects to visualize pigs walking, birds flying and frogs jumping, using seed funds from Brown's Office of the Vice President for Research and the National Science Foundation. Software will be rolled out in phases, Brainerd said, with a complete system available by 2010.

The project builds on orthopedic imaging work at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and on original research in skeletal imaging at Brown, including a trailblazing technique developed by Gatesy that uses animation software to combine CT scanner data with X-ray images. Images created using this technique - the forerunner of CTX - can be viewed at http://brown.edu/ctx/

Based in Los Angeles, the W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 by the late W. M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The Foundation's grant-making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science and engineering. The Foundation also maintains a program to support undergraduate science and humanities education and a Southern California Grant Program that provides support in the areas of health care, civic and community services, education and the arts, with a special emphasis on children.

Full Caption: Gator Gait: Brown researchers are pioneering a method for 3-D high-speed imaging of bone and joint movement. Currently they create single-beam X-ray visualizations, such as this image of an alligator, which must be aligned by hand. A new dual X-ray facility will speed up this process significantly and make images more accurate. Image: David Baier

View animations at
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-091.html

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