Automated microscope focus and stage control system is improving the imaging of human hip bones at major European bone research unit in Cambridge, UK
Syncroscopy reports that SyncroScan, its automated microscope focus and stage control system, is being used at a leading European bone research centre in Cambridge, UK to provide accurate image maps of bones.
The SyncroScan system, which attaches to an optical microscope, has a high-resolution camera, a motorised XY stage, and a Z stepper all linked to a PC and a stage controller board.
The system is being used by scientists in the Division of Bone Research to automatically capture and piece together many images of the femoral neck bone, part of the hip joint.
The researchers chose the system because sections of bone that can be as large as 30mm wide are impossible to view in their entirety under a conventional microscope without an accurate method of image stitching.
Nigel Loveridge, a senior scientist in the Division of Bone Research, explained: "We are studying large bone sections to determine how bone formation occurs after a hip fracture.
"This is important work because it could in the long-term help in finding therapies for bone diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
"The beauty of using SyncroScan is we can easily produce an image of the whole section we are looking at.
"This means we can study specific areas without getting lost in the sample, which you can sometimes do when you are manually scanning through such large sections". Martin Smith, syncroscopy's divisional manager, commented: "We are delighted to see the SyncroScan system being used for this important application.
"Since it can seamlessly stitch together images from large samples, it is ideally suited to histomorphometry.
"The use of the SyncroScan system in the Division of Bone Research has meant that the scientists there no longer have to manually piece together images and this will ultimately save many hours and improve the accuracy of their vital studies."
