CT scanning of lamniform sharks:
March 14, 2007
BY JIM RITTER Health Reporter
For a half hour Tuesday, the $1 million CT scanner at Children's Memorial
Hospital wasn't being used to examine sick boys and girls.
Instead, the machine was peering inside the body of a longfin mako shark,
along with some 87-million-year-old fossils of its extinct ancestors.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2959221,CST-NWS-shark14.articles
DePaul University paleontologist Kenshu Shimada (right) and graduate student
Sun Kim ready a shark for a CT scan Tuesday at Children's Memorial.
Unlike kids, shark specimens "don't move and don't cry," said pediatric
radiologist Dr. Cynthia Rigsby.
Rigsby is conducting an unusual collaboration with DePaul University
paleontologist Kenshu Shimada. They became acquainted through their children,
who are first-grade classmates. When Shimada learned Rigsby is a radiologist,
he asked to use the scanner for his research.
Rigsby was able to free up some scanner time. "We're not interrupting
patients," she said.
Thirteen institutions have loaned Shimada shark fossils and preserved bodies
of modern sharks. But the owners won't allow Shimada to cut open the specimens.
The CT scanner looks inside without leaving any damage. The machine shoots
X-ray beams through the specimen, and a computer combines the X-ray images
into a 3-D picture. The computer can rotate the image, add color, zoom in and
zoom out.
Will scan head of great white
Shimada studies lamniform sharks, a group that emerged about 150 million years
ago during the age of dinosaurs. Since their basic body plan hasn't changed
much, Shimada studies modern sharks to better understand extinct species.
Today, lamniform sharks are the sea's top predators. The group includes the
great white shark.
On Tuesday, Shimada scanned the 3-foot body of a young longfin mako caught off
the Florida coast. Today he plans to scan the head of a great white shark, on
loan from the Field Museum.
The evolutionary tree connecting lamniform species remains incomplete and
subject to disputes.
"I'm going to add more data to the debate," Shimada said.
A lot more data. Each CT scan can produce more than 1,000 pictures.
March 14, 2007
BY JIM RITTER Health Reporter
For a half hour Tuesday, the $1 million CT scanner at Children's Memorial
Hospital wasn't being used to examine sick boys and girls.
Instead, the machine was peering inside the body of a longfin mako shark,
along with some 87-million-year-old fossils of its extinct ancestors.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2959221,CST-NWS-shark14.articles
DePaul University paleontologist Kenshu Shimada (right) and graduate student
Sun Kim ready a shark for a CT scan Tuesday at Children's Memorial.
Unlike kids, shark specimens "don't move and don't cry," said pediatric
radiologist Dr. Cynthia Rigsby.
Rigsby is conducting an unusual collaboration with DePaul University
paleontologist Kenshu Shimada. They became acquainted through their children,
who are first-grade classmates. When Shimada learned Rigsby is a radiologist,
he asked to use the scanner for his research.
Rigsby was able to free up some scanner time. "We're not interrupting
patients," she said.
Thirteen institutions have loaned Shimada shark fossils and preserved bodies
of modern sharks. But the owners won't allow Shimada to cut open the specimens.
The CT scanner looks inside without leaving any damage. The machine shoots
X-ray beams through the specimen, and a computer combines the X-ray images
into a 3-D picture. The computer can rotate the image, add color, zoom in and
zoom out.
Will scan head of great white
Shimada studies lamniform sharks, a group that emerged about 150 million years
ago during the age of dinosaurs. Since their basic body plan hasn't changed
much, Shimada studies modern sharks to better understand extinct species.
Today, lamniform sharks are the sea's top predators. The group includes the
great white shark.
On Tuesday, Shimada scanned the 3-foot body of a young longfin mako caught off
the Florida coast. Today he plans to scan the head of a great white shark, on
loan from the Field Museum.
The evolutionary tree connecting lamniform species remains incomplete and
subject to disputes.
"I'm going to add more data to the debate," Shimada said.
A lot more data. Each CT scan can produce more than 1,000 pictures.
