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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  
000098585 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012861.001 Oplurus cyclurus Volumetric Image Series 2020-01-11 Restricted Download  
000113779 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012672.001 Platysaurus torquatus Volumetric Image Series 2020-03-26 Restricted Download  
000098567 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012864.001 Leiolepis triploida Volumetric Image Series 2020-01-11 Restricted Download  
000098575 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012869.001 Lichanura trivirgata Volumetric Image Series 2020-01-11 Restricted Download  
000098566 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012857.001 Latastia longicaudata Volumetric Image Series 2020-01-11 Restricted Download  
000100133 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 012866.001 Chalarodon madagascariensis Volumetric Image Series 2020-01-31 Restricted Download  
000114325 skull USNM:MAMM:USNM 398653 Saimiri sciureus Volumetric Image Series 2020-04-12 Restricted Download  
000098526 head YPM:VZ:YPM HERR 014382 Gerrhosaurus nigrolineatus Volumetric Image Series 2020-01-09 Restricted Download  
000114317 skull USNM:MAMM:USNM 503895 Callithrix jacchus Volumetric Image Series 2020-04-12 Restricted Download  
000432265 postcranial elements USNM:MAMM:USNM 300000 Nycticebus coucang Volumetric Image Series 2022-03-25 Restricted Download  
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