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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.

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List of media items in this team
  ID Part Object Taxonomy Type Date Added Publication Status  
000606522 skull and mandible mvz:mammal specimens:172141 Phocoena phocoena Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-22 Restricted Download  
000606512 whole body tmm:m:8670 Mus musculus Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-22 Restricted Download  
000606502 whole body tmm:m:8669 Mus musculus Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-22 Restricted Download  
000606487 whole body tmm:m:8671 Mus musculus Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-22 Restricted Download  
000606482 skull tmm:m:2052 Lama glama Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-22 Restricted Download  
000606302 skull and mandible amnh:86763 Hypsignathus monstrosus Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-20 Restricted Download  
000606296 skull tmm:m:2683 Odocoileus virginianus Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-20 Restricted Download  
000606274 skull tmm:m:2953 Vombatus ursinus Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-20 Restricted Download  
000606257 skull tmm:m:2946 Phascolarctos cinereus Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-20 Restricted Download  
000606252 holotype skull tmm:vpl:40209-200 Gustafsonia sp. Volumetric Image Series 2024-02-20 Restricted Download  
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