RE: Digital Volumetric Imaging

From:Todd Sherman <t-sherman@home.com>

Hello Linda,

Fascinating reference...thanks for the link.  Their product sounds quite
expensive but I guess they have to recoup the development costs for the
software.  I suspect that it is the software and not the hardware that makes
the product costly.

I think the duties of the histotechnologist will soon become much more
sophisticated.  Imagine trying to adjust the computer software parameters to
display what you "think" should be appearing!  Histotechs will no longer be
able to follow a recipe and let the pathologist interpret - they may have to
be able to interpret as well as a pathologist.  Granted, some histotechs are
able to interpret exceedingly well already - but, WOW!  Even specialists in
one arena cannot interpret observations made in another specialist's arena.
I love technology but I'm skeptical at this point that the machine can do a
"real H&E."  I'd love to see the product in action.  Technologists may
someday need to know how to use both procedures so that real staining and
virtual staining serve as experimental controls for each other.

"Ethics in photomicrography" - certainly a must read for all researchers.
It ought to be part of the contract when purchasing their new unit.

Regards, Todd

Todd Sherman
t-sherman@home.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Jenkins [mailto:jlinda@ces.clemson.edu]
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2001 12:59 PM
To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Subject: Digital Volumetric Imaging


Fellow HistoNetters--
	I just finished attending the Southeastern Microscopy Meeting here
at Clemson and saw something that you might want to check out at
<www.resolve3d.com>.  It's about a new digital volumetric imaging system
that looks very promising.  The system is very pricey right now - but...you
can send them a 3mm cube of tissue and for $1,000 dollars they will embed
it in their resin and serially section through the block taking digital
images of the surface of the block.  For ~ $23,000 they will provide you
with the computer and software to stain, view and do histomorphometry on
any part of the section.  The company says they feel it will take the place
of confocal and SEM microscopy.  The microtome and camera are not for sale
at this time (each set-up cost around $500,000!). The thing that impressed
me the most was that you could apply a beautiful H&E stain to the computer
image and they're working on Masson's Trichrome.  Computer generated stains
- what will they think of next?
	Linda
P.S.  This presentation followed one presented on ethics in
photomicrography - how much enhancement and manipulation is ethical.
*********************************
Linda Jenkins, HT
Clemson University
Department of Bioengineering
864.656.5553
**********************************




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