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oUTCT PEN Project ID: 00000C887 Public
1561 Media · 1309 Specimens · Managed by: Jessie Maisano

oUTCT is partnering with the oVert (openVertebrate) project to make nearly 9 terabytes of existing high-resolution X-ray computed tomographic (HRXCT) data publicly accessible, and train the next generation of students in best practices for these data. The University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility (UTCT) was established in 1997 to make HRXCT – a direct descendant of medical CT – available to researchers in the natural sciences. Since then, scientists from around the world have brought their most important and precious natural history specimens to UTCT to image and measure their interior features nondestructively. This application of HRXCT technology has been tremendously successful, resulting in the proliferation of scanners at institutions across the country. But UTCT datasets, acquired in part via dozens of NSF grants and cited more than 18,000 times in academic publications, remain in high demand due to their broad scope, high data quality, and historical significance. This demand has been fueled in part by the public-facing Digital Library of Morphology (DigiMorph.org), an NSF-funded project online since 2002 and housed at UTCT, which serves HRXCT-derived animations for more than 1,000 biological and paleontological specimens. In the oUTCT project, UTCT and DigiMorph are partnering with oVert and iDigBio (both at the University of Florida) and the MorphoSource data repository (Duke University) to make this unparalleled collection of HRXCT datasets more readily discoverable and more easily repurposed. oUTCT will also provide training to the oVert community, which spans nearly 20 universities and academic institutions, to maximize the scientific impact of that project. Over the course of two years, oUTCT is uploading HRXCT data of nearly 1,500 fossil and extant vertebrate species scanned for 90 UTCT clients to MorphoSource, where they can be easily discovered and downloaded by everyone from scientists to artists to K-12 educators. This mobilization is being accomplished by undergraduate students employed at UTCT, who are learning the basics of HRXCT data acquisition and visualization as well as elementary bioinformatics associated with iDigBio, DigiMorph, and MorphoSource. In addition to this educational outreach, UTCT will host two short courses per year, cosponsored by oVert and iDigBio, to train students and scientists associated with oVert and MorphoSource in the fundamentals of HRXCT data acquisition, visualization, analysis, and long-term management. These activities will expand the impact of the original oVert project and maximize the return on NSF’s investment in it, UTCT, DigiMorph, iDigBio, and MorphoSource.

Filtering by: Organization CAS Herpetology (HERP) Remove constraint Organization: CAS Herpetology (HERP) Project oUTCT PEN Remove constraint Project: oUTCT PEN Publication Status Restricted Download Remove constraint Publication Status: Restricted Download
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  ID Part Object Taxonomy Type Date Added Publication Status  
000101108 skull CAS:HERP:248782 Kolekanos plumicaudus Volumetric Image Series 2020-02-18 Restricted Download  
000114270 head CAS:HERP:75182 Diplodactylus pulcher Volumetric Image Series 2020-04-09 Restricted Download  
000101448 head CAS:HERP:218186 Cyrtopodion scaber Volumetric Image Series 2020-02-23 Restricted Download  
000103671 head CAS:HERP:174223 Hemiphyllodactylus typus Volumetric Image Series 2020-02-25 Restricted Download  
000103859 head CAS:HERP:74742 Phyllurus salebrosus Volumetric Image Series 2020-02-26 Restricted Download  
000103742 head CAS:HERP:170525 Tenuidactylus rohtasfortai Volumetric Image Series 2020-02-25 Restricted Download  
000101442 head CAS:HERP:170533 Cyrtodactylus battalensis Volumetric Image Series 2020-02-23 Restricted Download  
000101447 head CAS:HERP:196844 Cyrtodactylus tibetanus Volumetric Image Series 2020-02-23 Restricted Download  
000101451 head CAS:HERP:66195 Ebenavia inunguis Volumetric Image Series 2020-02-23 Restricted Download  
000103841 head CAS:HERP:225349 Pristurus carteri Volumetric Image Series 2020-02-26 Restricted Download  
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