After going on to practice pathology, Kerschmann began to experiment with methods of generating three-dimensional images of the cubic-millimeter-sized samples studied in pathology labs. The resulting technology is called Digital Volumetric Imaging, or DVI. To use DVI, the fixed sample is stained and then embedded in a black polymer. Next, the block is mounted on a microtome, an image is captured directly off the cut surface of the block using a CCD camera, a section is cut to the depth of the first image, and the process is repeated, about 1,000 times on average. The "optical thickness" of each section is controlled by the degree of blackness of the polymer, while interference from the depth of the sample is eliminated by the opacity of the polymer. Because no slides are made and the sectioning is automated, thousands of images can be captured from a sample, allowing micron-range resolution three-dimensional images ...
Pretty on the Inside
While new technologies in the fields of proteomics and genomics appear almost daily, histotechnology has remained largely unchanged since its development in the mid-1800s. Tissues are fixed, embedded in wax, sectioned, and stained as needed--a labor-intensive process that generates two-dimensional glass slides that must be viewed one at a time. An anatomical pathologist by training, Russell Kerschmann, founder and president of Corte Madera, Calif.-based Resolution Sciences Corp., is intimately f
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Aileen Constans
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