ITG NewsThe ITG News page archives all announcements and news items pertaining to the Imaging Technology Group. Its purpose is to inform the ITG user community of relevant updates and changes in the capabilities of the ITG facilities, and to highlight newsworthy events and achievements by ITG staff. Archived NewsImage from ITG on Cover of Chemical Reviews
The cover for the February 2008 edition of Chemical Reviews includes an image produced in the Visualization, Media, and Imaging Laboratory. The image, which is bottom right on the cover collage, depicts a plasmonic crystal array. It accompanies a paper by Matthew E. Stewart, Christopher R. Anderton, Lucas B. Thompson, Joana Maria, Stephen K. Gray, John A. Rogers, and Ralph G. Nuzzo on Nanostructured Plasmonic Sensors. ITG Visualization Specialist Alex Jerez created the image in the VMIL using several software packages, inclduing Amira, Maya, Photoshop, and After Effects. New High Resolution X-Ray Micro-CT from Xradia
New High Resolution X-Ray Micro-CT from Xradia A new high resolution X-Ray micro-CT from Xradia has been installed and is ready for users. The new micro-CT provides 1 micron resolution compared to the 5 micron resolution from SkyScan 1172 micro-CT currently in VMIL. Xradia micro-CT also comes with proprietary ultrafast reconstruction program that takes minutes rather than hours to reconstruct a 3-D model from hundreds of 2-D images. The new micro-CT includes a micro-focused 10W (40~150 KeV) Tungsten tube, TE-cooled 4 mega-pixel CCD camera, 5 microscopic objectives (2X, 4X, 10X, 20X and 40X), and high-precision 4-axis motorized sample stage. The 40~150 KeV X-ray energy level allows a wide spectrum of materials that can be imaged by the new system. Please contact Leilei Yin for more information. Job Opening for Director of the Imaging Technology GroupITG has a job opening for a new director. Read the announcement, and if you have questions, please contact jobs@beckman.uiuc.edu. Cover of Nature Photonics Created by ITG
The January 2008 issue of Nature Photonics features a cover image created by ITG depicting the work of Stephanie Rinne, Florencio García-Santamaría, and Paul Braun. The highlighted article describes their current research with embedded cavities and waveguides in three-dimensional silicon photonic crystals. The image was produced in the Visualization, Media, and Imaging Lab by ITG 3D Artist Steve Eisenmann. Eisenmann combined models created in a 3D application, bringing them into Maya for rendering and Photoshop for final compositing. ITG Creates Cover for Nature Chemical Biology
ITG created the cover image for the December 2007 cover of Nature Chemical Biology. The image illustrates the work by Hee-Kyung Kim, Ivan Rasnik, Juewen Liu, Taekjip Ha and Yi Lu, and accompanies their paper titled Dissecting metal ion–dependent folding and catalysis of a single DNAzyme. The image was created by Alex Jerez, Hee-Kyung Kim and Yi Lu. Cover of Inorganic Chemistry by ITG
ITG created the cover image for the October 29, 2007 issue of Inorganic Chemistry. The cover highlights the work of chemistry professor Greg Girolami, graduate students Do Young Kim and Yu Yang, and research professor John Abelson. The paper which accompanies the image describes their work in the invention and development of new chemical vapor deposition precursors, and the image specifically illustrates the synthesis of new magnesium compounds of the octahydrotriborate ion B3H8-, which have volatilities rivaling those of the most volatile magnesium compounds known. The image was created by ITG 3D artist Steve Eisenmann using Maya and custom MEL scripts he authored. ITG Animation Makes Semifinals in NSF Visualization Challenge
An animation produced by ITG to illustrate multidisciplinary research on artificial bone development was awarded a Semifinalist honor in the 2007 Visualization Challenge (sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the journal Science). The animation, titled 'Mandible Reconstruction Project', chronicles a unique effort that involved the University of Illinois College of Engineering, the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Sandia National Laboratories, and Carle Foundation Hospital to develop an alternative approach to bone replacement--one that obviates the bone harvest surgery without diminishing the superior clinical outcomes associated with autografting. Portions of the animation have been shown on television news programs nationwide, and the full work was previously selected to be part of SIGGRAPH 2004's Computer Animation Festival. ITG's Virtual Microscope Highlighted by Lifehacker.com
Lifehacker, one of the world's most highly-read blogs on technology and life, recently highlighted ITG's Virtual Microscope project as an incredibly useful and interesting resource available from the nation's universities. The Virtual Microscope provides simulated microscopy software to browser and analyze high-resolution multi-dimensional image datasets. The software, which is open-source and available free to the public, has been downloaded over 75,000 times and is used worldwide for education and research. Lifehacker's link to our project pushed web traffic to the site up 1000% and increased software downloads by 300%. Lifehacker is rated as the #6 most-linked-to blog in the world by Technorati. ITG Lands $2 Million Award from NSF for New X-Ray Nanotomography Instrument
ITG has been awarded $2 million from the National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program to acquire a revolutionary multi-length scale x-ray nanotomography (nano-CT) instrument. This device, which will be the first such instrument at a US university, will support nondestructive internal 3-D imaging of samples as thick as 0.1 millimeter while resolving features as small as 30 nanometers in width. The award, which was for the full amount requested ($1.998 million), puts it in the top 1% of MRI awards historically (in terms of funding level), and is the largest MRI award ever made to UIUC. As a result, the nano-CT will become the most expensive instrument in ITG by about $1 million, and should cement UIUC as a center for micro- and nano-tomographic imaging. The grant effort was led by ITG Director Ben Grosser and Materials Science Professor Paul Braun. We hope to have the instrument up and running in Spring 2008. Applied Physics Letters Features ITG Image on Cover
The cover for the May 21, 2007 edition of Applied Physics Lettersfeatures an image produced in the Visualization, Media, and ImagingLab for John Rogers' group. The image accompanies a paper by Jong-Hyun Ahn, John Rogers, et al. on the topic of bendable integrated circuits on plastic substrates. The final image is made up from a blend of several photographs, each containing a different point of focus. This method increased the depth of field so that the entire circuit area could be in focus. The image was created by ITG staff member Chas Conway. Image from ITG on Cover of Chemical Reviews
The cover for the April 2007 edition of Chemical Reviews includes an image produced in the Visualization, Media, and Imaging Lab for John Rogers' group. The image, which is bottom center on the cover collage, depicts a section of a multiple-active layer single-crystal silicon TFT array. The overall image accompanies an extensive paper by Etienne Menard, John Rogers, et al. on Micro- and Nanopatterning Techniques for Organic Electronic and Optoelectronic Systems. The image was created using Amira and Photoshop in the VMIL by Janet Sinn-Hanlon, and utilizes the original confocal image data. ITG Designs Nanoscience Handbook Cover
The image is of the cover of the 2nd edition of the Handbook for Nanoscience, Engineering, and Technology from CRC Press, which was published on April 26, 2007. The book, whose first edition cover was also produced by ITG, is seen as perhaps the definitive reference for nano researchers worldwide. Its content includes work by a number of current and former Beckman faculty and students, including Narayan Aluru, Karl Hess, Jean-Pierre Leburton, Umberto Ravaioli, Slava V. Rotkin, Trudy van der Straaten, William McMahon, Blair Tuttle, and Martin Staedele. You can read more about this image and view a large version on it's Image of the Week page. Microscopy Suite Installs New Stereology Microscope
ITG's Microscopy Suite has a new stereology microscope built around the Zeiss AxioImager A1 upright microscope and software from MBF Bioscience and Optronics MicroFire Progressive Scan CCD camera. The system is equipped with 10 port filter wheels and a six port filter cube assembly making it the most flexible light microscope for fluorescent, bright field and reflected light imaging in the Suite. Conventionally, stereology is a discipline that utilizes proven statistical sampling techniques to estimate the total population of cell types in an organ, usually the brain. Our new 'scope now fully supports Beckman's neuroscientists, but because of the flexibility of its hardware, the instrument can also assist researchers with samples from other disciplines like thin films, mirrors, polished metallurgical samples, integrated circuits, dyed fibers, diffuse metallic specimens, composite materials, and polymers. Please contact Jon Ekman for more information. Nature Nanotechnology Uses ITG Image on CoverThe April, 2007 issue of Nature Nanotechnology features an image designed by ITG for Beckman faculty member John Rogers' group. The cover image, which depicts his lab's high-performance single-walled carbon nantube arrays, accompanies their paper in the journal. The image was produced using Maya and Amira in the Visualization, Media, and Imaging Lab by ITG Visualization Specialist Alex Jerez. Jerez used SEM and AFM data of the nanotube arrays as the basis for generating the models used in the image. ITG Image Featured on World's #1 Blog
An image produced by ITG for Beckman faculty member John Rogers appeared in a story on the popular blog Engadget. The blog entry picks up on a story from the UIUC News Bureau that describes new work by Rogers' lab on the development of dense nanotube arrays for thin-film semiconductor material. The image was produced using Maya and Amira in the Visualization, Media, and Imaging Lab by ITG Visualization Specialist Alex Jerez. Technorati, a blog indexing service, currently rates Engadget as the most linked to blog on the Internet. Job Opening for Interactive Web DesignerITG has a job opening for a part-time student interactive web designer. Read the announcement, and if you have any questions, please contact Ben Grosser. Nature Features ITG Work on Cover and WebsiteThe March 22, 2007 cover of the journal Nature (large image of cover) features an image designed by ITG for Beckman's Autonomous Materials Systems group in order to accompany their new article titled "Biasing reaction pathways with mechanical force". The paper describes research by Beckman faculty Jeff Moore, Scott White, and Nancy Sottos, and the article's lead author is graduate student Charles Hickenboth. The image depicts the way a mechanically active molecule, or mechanophore, reacts to an external mechanical force. Nature has also posted several supplemental videos that include clips from ITG-produced animations on self-healing materials. The animations and cover image were produced in ITG's Visualization, Media, and Imaging Laboratory. Details about the science behind the image are detailed on the Beckman group's Mechanics Meets Chemistry page. The UIUC News Bureau also has an article up. Journal of Materials Chemistry Cover Designed by ITGThe cover of the Journal of Materials Chemistry for March 7 features an image designed by ITG to accompany an article by Beckman faculty member John Rogers. Rogers and Yugang Sun wrote an article for the issue titled Structural forms of single crystal semiconductor nanoribbons for high-performance stretchable electronics. The cover image (PDF) was created in the Visualization, Media, and Imaging Laboratory using Maya, and depicts the stretchable nanoribbons as seen in SEM images in the paper. Chemical & Engineering News Writes About MRS Film FestivalChemical and Engineering News has written an article (link only works from uiuc.edu domain or with subscription) that describes each winning entry in the recent Materials Research Society Scientific Film Festival. ITG's winning entry, Stretchable Silicon, which describes the research of Beckman's John Rogers, won 3rd place in that festival. ITG staff member Alex Jerez is quoted at length in the article, and a copy of the video is included. Virtual Microscope Wins Award
ITG's Virtual Microscope has been awarded a NASA Software Award by Michael Griffin, NASA's Administrator. The award recognizes significant technical contributions to NASA, and is made under the authority of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. The Virtual Microscope is part of NASA's Virtual Lab, and provides free software to the world for high-resolution, multi-dimensional image viewing and analysis. To date, it offers 90 specimens from light, electron, and scanned probe microscopes, and the application has been downloaded over 40,000 times. Congratulations to the Virtual Microscope team for this award. ITG Wins 3rd Place in MRS Film Festival
ITG won 3rd place in the Materials Research Society's first ever Scientific Film Festival. The winning work, titled Stretchable Silicon, uses video and animation to demonstrate the potentialapplications of flexible circuitry from John Rogers' research group. ITG staff members Alex Jerez, Janet Sinn-Hanlon, Darren Stevenson, and Ben Grosser contributed to the work. PNAS Journal Cover Features Image by ITG
The cover of the October 10, 2006 issue of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) features an image that accompanies an article by Mai T. Dang et. al titled Disrupted motor learning and long-term synaptic plasticity in mice lacking NMDAR1 in the striatum. The cover image of a mouse medium spiny neuron was taken by ITG microscopist Jon Ekman on ITG's Zeiss Axiovert 200 Fluorescence Microscope. Authors M. Dang, F. Yokoi, Y. Wang, and Y. Li are all members of Beckman's Neurotech Group. ITG Places Two Works in MRS Film Festival Finals
Two films produced by ITG placed in the finals at the Materials Research Society's first ever Scientific Film Festival. These works illustrate the work of Beckman faculty members whose work is in materials science. Self-Healing Materials: Automatic Repair of Everyday Objects (top) animates the concepts behind the self-healing materials from Scott White's Self-Healing Research Group. Stretchable Silicon (bottom) uses video and animation to demonstrate the potential applications of flexible circuitry from John Rogers' research group. Attendees to the MRS Fall Meeting will be able to vote on the works, and the awards will be made public on November 30th in Boston, MA. ITG Images at Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago
Images from ITG's various galleries are part of an exhibit featured at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary art from September 16 to December 31, called Massive Change: The Future of Global Design. This exhibit, by Bruce Mau Design and the Institute without Boundaries explores how innovative design can create a green, sustainable, and socially conscious society. A component of the exhibit, called Image Economies, presents thousands of images from an atomic to a universal scale. Their page on Image Economies Details includes one of ITG's images included in the exhibit: a 3D rendering of AFM data of red blood cells. Refraction Research Sponsors Bugscope
Refraction Research has decided to sponsor ITG's Bugscope project with a research grant. Refraction Research is a non-profit fund that provides smaller, supplemental grants for projects in a variety of areas, including neuroscience, physics, and K-12 science education. Bugscope is an ongoing educational outreach project that provides real-time control of our scanning electron microscope so that kids worldwide can image bugs at high-magnification. The funds will be used to improve and sustain this highly-successful project. Animation Produced by ITG for Rogers Group Illustrates Work Highlighted in PC Magazine
PC Magazine recently highlighted John Rogers' work on stretchable silicon as one of their 10 Coolest Technologies You've Never Heard Of. ITG created an animation (requires Quicktime 7) and still images for Rogers that illustrate the concept. PC Magazine used the images and animation as part of their article. Artwork Produced in ITG Exhibited at International Museum of Surgical Science
Artwork by former UIUC graduate student Leslie Speicher will be exhibited at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago, IL from August 4 to October 20, 2006 as part of their Anatomy in the Gallery series. The exhibition will include several works that were produced in collaboration with ITG staff, and that utilized ITG's equipment and software (e.g. 3D printer, fluoresence microscope, Amira). Speicher's work has been the subject of previous ITG Images of the Week, including 2/10/2004, and 11/30/2004. The show's opening is August 4 from 5-7pm. DVD of Award-Winning Film Produced in VMIL
A film by VMIL user Yu Hasegawa-Johnson titled Crystal's Sigh, a 5-minute short film extracted from her feature film titled Aura, IL, recently won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award . The DVD for Crystal's Sigh was produced in the VMIL. Congratulations to Yu! Materials Today Cover Designed in ITG Facilities by Rogers GroupITG recently learned that the cover of the February, 2005 issue of Materials Today featured an image produced in the VMIL. This image accompanies an article by Beckman faculty member John Rogers et. al titled Recent progress in soft lithography. The image, which depicts a polymer nanostructure filter element, was was also chosen as ITG's September 14, 2004 Image of the Week. ITG ShapeCam & Fossil Hominin Research
The ITG ShapeCam is currently touring some of Europe's premier museums & scientific institutions as VMIL regular Jodi Blumenfeld collects data for her research on fossil hominin brow-ridge morphology. Follow her adventures on her personal blog "The Bugaboo Diaries". Soft Matter Journal Cover Designed by ITG for Lewis GroupThe cover of the March 2006 issue of Soft Matter accompanies an article by Jennifer Lewis' research group on biomimetic silicification of polyamine-rich scaffolds. ITG worked with lead author Mingjie Xu to design the cover based on the data used to fabricate the structures. Nature Materials Journal Cover Designed by ITG for Rogers Group
The cover of the January 2006 issue of Nature Materials accompanies an article by John Rogers' research group on stamp-printable micro/nanostructures. Chas Conway and Ben Grosser helped lead author Matt Meitl photograph and prep the cover image in ITG's Visualization, Media, and Imaging Laboratory. Joint Collaboration between ITG and Industrial Design discussed in IMPACT Conference ProceedingsBeckman and Industrial Design Professor Deana McDonagh and ITG Co-Director Ben Grosser discussed the results of their recent course collaboration (based in part on the Mandible Reconstruction Project) in IMPACT, a limited-edition conference book. Their paper was titled "Relevant Design: Enhancing Quality of Life Through the Fusion of Art & Techhnology. ITG Launches New Virtual Projects Website and Releases New Virtual Microscope Software (VSEM & VLM)ITG has launched their new Virtual Projects website that highlights their work with the Virtual Laboratory project. This launch corresponds with the release of a substantial new software version (version 2.0 beta), of their Virtual SEM and Virtual Light Microscope, which is now available for free download on the new website. Light Microscopy PositionApplicants are being sought for the position of Specialist Light Microscopist in the Imaging Technology Group (ITG) at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ARSC Hosts BugscopeThe Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC) will host Bugscope team member Umesh Thakkar for a talk and demonstration of ITG's Bugscope project on Thursday, June 30th at 2pm CDT. You will be able to observe their live use of Bugscope by visiting the Bugscope website during that time. Science Magazine Highlights Virtual LabITG's Virtual Laboratory Project was highlighted in Science Magazine's Netwatch (8 April 2005, Vol 308, p. 173). The Virtual Laboratory is an ITG project funded by NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Learning Technologies Group that involves the development of virtual scientific instrumentation to view high-resolution, multi-dimensional image datasets for education and research. You can also view the Virtual Lab site at NASA. X-Ray Microtomography Instrument Installed in VMILWe have just installed our new Skyscan 1172 x-ray microtomography instrument. This high-resolution device is the first of its kind in the United States, and was funded by an NSF Instrumentation for Materials Research grant to directly support the research of faculty from across the University of Illinois. The micro-CT is housed in the VMIL, and is now available for use. Please contact Ben Grosser or Dan Weber for more information. Particle Sizing Instruments Have ArrivedA NiComp 380 ZLS Particle Sizer, a dynamic light scattering instrument with Zeta potential measurement capability, and an AccuSizer FX Particle Sizer from Particle Sizing Systems have arrived this January. Both instruments are housed in room B650G. Please contact Glenn Fried for more details. Ig Nobel Prize-Winning Research Done in ITG FacilitiesThe 2004 Ig Nobel Prize for Public Health was awarded to Jilian Clarke for investigating the validity of the five-second rule. Imaging for this work was completed using ITG's ESEM. ITG's Work at SIGGRAPH 2004An original ITG computer animation about the Mandible Reconstruction Project was recently selected from over 600 entries to be part of the SIGGRAPH 2004 Computer Animation Festival in Los Angeles, CA. In all, 83 entries were chosen by jury to participate, and ITG's entry was one of only two scientific visualizations to make it into the festival. You can view the entry and read more about it here. New Journal Cover: Materials TodayAn image by ITG director Ben Grosser and graduate student Greg Gratson was selected as the cover image for the July/August issue of Materials Today. The image illustrates a concept by Gratson and Beckman faculty member Jennifer Lewis. ITG staff members Janet Sinn-Hanlon and Carl Burton also contributed to the image. New Journal Cover: APLAn image by Ben Grosser and Beckman researcher Slava Rotkin was chosen as the cover image for the April issue of Applied Physics Letters. The cover, which illustrates the research of Rotkin and Beckman faculty member Karl Hess, was also an 'Image of the Week,' and was a featured article in the Beckman news. International Bugscope in the MediaThe News-Gazette has posted a story about the Bugscope Project's first overseas school session, with St. Wolstans School in Celbridge, Ireland. View the school's Bugscope homepage, or visit their database to see the 324 images they collected. ITG Contributes Image to President's BudgetAn SEM image by ITG electron microscopist Scott Robinson was featured as a full-page insert in the President's FY 2004 Budget Supplement. That document is now available online (scroll to page 6). ITG Virtual Instrumentation in the MediaITG's completed Virtual SEM prototype, and its recent $250,000 grant with NASA for further virtual instrumentation development is covered in the News-Gazette. NSF Funds New Instrument in ITGThe National Science Foundation has notified ITG that they will fully fund their request for an x-ray microtomography (micro-CT) instrument. This $315,000 device will support major research projects by Beckman and UIUC faculty, and will provide the first option on campus for imaging the 3-D internal structure of optically opaque samples with 5-um resolution. NASA Funds ITG for Virtual Instrumentation DevelopmentNASA's Kennedy Space Center has funded ITG's continued development of virtual instrumentation software. This $250,000 grant will support the continued development of ITG's Virtual SEM, as well as new instruments, including a Virtual Light Microscope and a Virtual AFM. New Journal Cover: Materials TodayAn image by ITG director Ben Grosser and graduate student Greg Gratson was selected as the cover image for the July/August issue of Materials Today. The image illustrates a concept by Gratson and Beckman faculty member Jennifer Lewis. ITG staff members Janet Sinn-Hanlon and Carl Burton also contributed to the image. New Journal Cover: APLAn image by Ben Grosser and Beckman researcher Slava Rotkin was chosen as the cover image for the April issue of Applied Physics Letters. The cover, which illustrates the research of Rotkin and Beckman faculty member Karl Hess, was also an 'Image of the Week,' and was a featured article in the Beckman news. ITG Contributes Image to President's BudgetAn SEM image by ITG electron microscopist Scott Robinson was featured as a full-page insert in the President's FY 2004 Budget Supplement. That document is now available online (scroll to page 6). Forums on Summer BreakThe weekly ITG forums are on a hiatus for the summer. We will resume the normal schedule on August 30th. International Bugscope in the MediaThe News-Gazette has posted a story about the Bugscope Project's first overseas school session, with St. Wolstans School in Celbridge, Ireland. View the school's Bugscope homepage, or visit their database to see the 324 images they collected. Gigabit Networking UpgradeThe ITG network infrastructure has been upgraded to gigabit. This change, which accomodates data transfer at 30-60+ MB/sec., brings connectivity improvements between both ITG facilities and other departments on campus. Contact sysadmin for more information. Applications of the ShapecamComputer Graphics World Magazine has posted a story about Beckman Institute Research with ITG's ShapeCam, a portable 3D scanner now available for use. ITG in Tokyo's Medical TribuneThe Medical Tribune of Tokyo, Japan featured an article about the Mandible Reconstruction Project on October 23, 2003. Applications of the ShapecamDigitalVideoEditing.com has posted a story about Beckman Institute research with ITG's new ShapeCam, a portable 3D scanner now available for use. ITG in the NewsACES News featured an article entitled "If You Drop It, Should You Eat It? Scientists Weigh In on the 5-Second Rule". New Facility RatesNew Facility Rates are in effect as of August 1, 2003 . Please see the Fees pages for more information. ITG in the News"UI Research Scales Back", The News-Gazette, March 30, 2003 ITG in the NewsThe News-Gazette featured an article about the Mandible Reconstruction Project. Please see the June 15, 2003 issue to read the story. Mandible Reconstruction ProjectITG has posted a set of pages describing the Mandible Reconstruction Project, a multi-disciplinary effort between ITG, UIUC Materials Science Dept., Carle Hospital, and Sandia National Laboratories. Carl Burton HonoredCarl Burton was honored with the "Outstanding Graduating Senior in Art & Design" by the University for his creative production "The Art of Simon Fischer". For more details, see Image of the Week - May 20, 2003. ITG in the News"Girls bring virtual 'prairie' to school", News Gazette, May 18, 2003 ITG in the News"Student film brings Hollywood feel", Daily Illini, April 30. 2003 ITG in the News"Tech chief says Google looking into the future", The News-Gazette, April 23, 2003. ITG in the News"UI Project Simply Buggy, On Purpose", The News-Gazette, January 26, 2003 Newsletters (1998-2002) |
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