University of California, San Diego
Digital Volumetric Imaging has allowed us to obtain structural information on skeletal structures that have never been seen before. In the past, researchers were hampered by 3-D images that were limited in depth (in the “z” dimension).

With DVI, detailed light microscopic images can be obtained sequentially millimeters deep into a structure, and are automatically registered and presented with convenient visualization software. Using DVI, we are able to delineate and quantify the complex 3-D structures of cartilage, including cell shape, distribution, and organization, the calcified cartilage interface between cartilage and bone, and vascular canals protruding up from the subchondral bone.

We were delighted to be able to provide one of our 3-D DVI images or human articular cartilage for inclusion in the next edition of Gray’s Anatomy. DVI is revolutionizing the micro-structural imaging of tissues. DVI has broad application in biological sciences, bioengineering, and medical research.

Robert Sah, MD, ScD
Professor & Vice Chair, Department of Bioengineering, UCSD
Professor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

University of Washington
As a nationally recognized center for the study of biomaterial-tissue interfaces, Digital Volumetric Imaging was a natural fit for our lab. Over the last three years we’ve used it extensively to answer research questions for our own core investigators, as well as those of our collaborators from all over the country.

We’ve used DVI to reveal the architecture of tissues at the single cell level, as well as to image complex three-dimensional polymeric structures. Our most interesting work is a combination of the two – directly imaging the integration of cells and tissues within porous three-dimensional scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. DVI enables our studies of cell seeding, growth and survival in three dimensions, gives us direct measurement of cell density, as well direct measurement of material parameters such as void fraction. More over we’re applying the technique to image angiogenic processes in three dimensions, one of the major areas of research emphasis in tissue engineering.

Simply put, DVI provides images and data that cannot be collected by any other microscopy technique. Even after three years, we have barely scratched the surface of this instrument’s potential.

Kip D. Hauch, PhD
Dir., UWEB Microscopy and Image Analysis
Research Dir., BEAT, a NIH BRP devoted to the engineering of cardiac muscle and cardiac repair.