Division of Biology and Medicine
BioMed Core Facilities

XROMM Service

Overview

The W.M. Keck Foundation XROMM Facility biplanar room at Brown University consists of two Varian model G-1086 x-ray tubes, two EMD Technologies model EPS 45-80 pulsed x-ray generators, two Dunlee model TH9447QXH590 image intensifiers (16" diameter), and two Phantom v10 high-speed digital video cameras. The x-ray tubes are suspended from the ceiling by tube cranes and the IIs are mounted on mobile gantries. The components are set up such that the two x-ray beams intersect each other close to the IIs. A treadmill, trackway or other animal support/enclosure is placed such that the research animal performs the behavior of interest (running, jumping, flying) in the volume where the x-ray beams intersect.

The Brown University system can deliver pulsed x-ray generation at up to 100 Hz, and can record in continuous x-ray generation mode at up to 1000 fps. With the Phantom v10 cameras, the pixel resolution is 1800x1800. Overall resolution of the imaging chain is about 2 line pairs/mm. Radio-opaque beads can be tracked to within ±0.1 mm in 3D space. The x-ray system was designed and integrated by Marty Kulis of Imaging Systems and Service, Painesville OH (mkulis@issi-na.com; 440-724-8002).

Operation