Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The High Efficiency X-ray Macroscope for Imaging of Musculoskeletal (MSK) Development and Aging at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) Synchrotron will be a custom-built, optical instrument which optimizes imaging quality and speed/efficiency at high resolution (8-15 µm) across a large field of view. The macroscope will be housed at the BioMedical Imaging and Therapy (BMIT) facility of the CLS, where it will be accessible by all members of our diverse national team, and all CLS users. Development and aging of the MSK system are key research foci for BMIT spanning its operations for over a decade now. The macroscope is a critical tool that renews aging equipment, capitalizes on new technology developments, increases experimental throughput, improves imaging speed and quality and, most innovatively, reduces radiation dose for in vivo animal imaging. The macroscope will enable advances for MSK research which push the limits of biomedical imaging, filling the challenging niche between histology and conventional 3D imaging modalities and thereby creating new avenues of inquiry not previously feasible. The collaborative interwoven research programs of our team are collected within three Themes: Advancing Synchrotron Imaging Technology, Tissue-Level MSK Imaging and Dynamic in vivo MSK Imaging. Advancing Technology will take the form of a key innovation being implemented at BMIT by Chapman - beam expansion. A larger beam, overcoming the limited height (mm in scale) of conventional synchrotron beams, will greatly improve experimental throughput for the study of large targets including bones and joints. Beam expansion, combined with rapid helical scanning being developed by Zhu, will provide unprecedented, large field of view synchrotron imaging (cm in scale) and the macroscope is vital to realize this potential. Larger field of view will mean improved ex vivo Tissue-Level imaging, advancing study of bone (Cooper, Andronowski, Arnason, Willmore, Panahifar), craniofacial and dental development (Boughner), cartilage and related engineered tissue constructs (Eames), among others. The BMIT facility is one of only a handful of synchrotron facilities worldwide with the capacity to image live animals and the macroscope will have its greatest impact on in vivo imaging - which is fundamentally limited by radiation dose. The improved dose efficiency the macroscope will enable better image quality and multi-time point experimental designs for dynamic tracking of bone remodeling to probe mechanisms underpinning osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and opioid-induced bone loss (Cooper, Andronowski, Arnason, Panahifar) and the integration of osteochondral tissue engineering constructs (Eames). Through placement at the CLS, national and international users will have access to the macroscope via an open peer-review process. The macroscope will thus sustain and enhance the world leading status of the CLS, enable cutting-edge research, and confer unparalleled training opportunities.