On the 20th of November Peter Pivonka our Centre Deputy Director and Program 1 Lead attended the official opening of the ARC Training Centre for M3D Innovation at ANU.

By using cutting edge micro-CT imaging, reconstruction, analysis and visualisation methods developed at The Australian National University, researchers can probe, analyse, model and reconstruct the 3D structure of material samples at the metre scale with resolutions down to a few hundred nanometres to garner a deep understanding of the structure of materials at multiple scales.

With our program 1 team developing computational frameworks for modelling shoulder function, we are excited to explore the implications for 3D modelling in orthopaedics at our centre, with the visit highlight being their amazing large scale microCT device. We hope to collaborate with the centre in future and to promote knowledge sharing between a one of our fellow Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centres.

One aspect of particular interest to our centre’s research is their work with Micro-CT imaging and their new large scale device. Micro-CT imaging is a 3D imaging technique that utilizes X-rays to see inside an object, slice by slice.

Micro-CT, also called microtomography or micro computed tomography, is similar to hospital CT or “CAT” scan imaging but on a small scale with greatly increased resolution. Samples can be imaged with pixel sizes as small as 100 nanometers and objects can be scanned as large as 200 millimeters in diameter.

Some of our PhD students such as Mr Ahmed Sewify are currently working on an automatic ultrasound imaging-based tomography of the shoulder to track bony structures in real-time. Although using different imaging tools, the centre of M3D Innovation’s advancements could be a huge game changer in how we at the centre go about creating our own 3D models and how we then can apply them for use in the orthopaedics industry.

We wish the team at M3D all the best for their launch and for a successful first year.

Image: Large  scale microCT device