UNDERSTANDING THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURAL RELATIONSHIPS IN CELLS AND TISSUES IS IMPORTANT IN BOTH BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCE AND CLINICAL PATHOLOGY DIAGNOSIS.

UNDERSTANDING THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURAL RELATIONSHIPS IN CELLS AND TISSUES IS IMPORTANT IN BOTH BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCE AND CLINICAL PATHOLOGY DIAGNOSIS. TO HELP ADDRESS THIS NEED, HAMPSHIRE INSTRUMENTS IS DEVELOPING A HIGH-RESOLUTION THREE-DIMENSIONAL OPTICAL MICROSCOPY WORKSTATION WITH SIGNIFICANT COMPUTATIONAL AND INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS CAPABILITY. THIS INSTRUMENT WILL INCORPORATE THREE-DIMENSIONAL DEBLURRING ALGORITHMS USED TO SHARPEN IMAGES FROM OPTICALLY SECTIONED THICK SPECIMENS, IN BOTH ABSORPTION AND FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY. DURING PHASE I, 1.A MICROCOMPUTER BASED HIGH-RESOLUTION OPTICAL MICROSCOPY DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM WILL BE CONSTRUCTED; 2.THREE-DIMENSIONAL DEBLURRING ALGORITHMS FOR FLUORESCENCE AND 3.THE EFFECT OF UNAVOIDABLE PARTIAL COHERENCE OF ILLUMINATION IN HIGH-RESOLUTION MICROSCOPY ON THE VALIDITY OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL DEBLURRING ALGORITHMS WILL BE DETERMINED;4.HUMAN CANCER NUCLEI CELLS WILL BE EXAMINED TO ASSESS THE USEFULNESS OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL DEBLURRING PROCEDURES ON NUCLEAR FEATURES THAT HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE OF PROGNOSTIC OR DIAGNOSTIC VALUE; AND 5. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SPECIFICATIONS FOR PHASE II CONSTRUCTION OF THE COMMERCIAL PROTOTYPE HIGH-RESOLUTION THREE-DIMENSIONAL OPTICAL MICROSCOPY WORKSTATION WILL BE DEVELOPED.