A versatile new device will soon come to campus thanks to an interdepartmental collaboration between biologists and engineers.
The Nikon microCT scanner is able to image objects from the size of a water bottle to a virus, revealing the internal structure at incredible resolution. Its acquisition was spearheaded by entomologists Katja Seltmann and Madeleine Ostwald at the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity & Ecological Restoration.
“A microCT is important because it allows us to look at internal anatomy and the inside of bee nests as bees are growing,” said Seltmann, the Katherine Esau Director of the Cheadle Center. Most of her group’s previous work has related to external morphology.
Seltmann and Ostwald applied for an equipment grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The highly selective program fields only one submission per institution each round, so they had to win an internal competition to secure UCSB’s spot. The funding meant they could afford a microCT, just not the most multifunctional model.
“However, the microCT is useful not just for biology and bee health, but also for anything dealing with morphology, which also includes materials,” Seltmann said. The prospect of the new device connected more than 30 faculty across campus, including materials scientist Daniel Oropeza.
Katja Seltmann and Dan Oropeza are just two of the many researchers in multiple disciplines whose work will benefit from the new microCT instrument.