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oUTCT PEN Project ID: 00000C887 Public
1587 Media · 1335 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  
000125068 skull tmm:m:10464 Chiroxiphia caudata Volumetric Image Series 2020-07-09 Restricted Download  
000159368 stained syrinx tmm:m:12954 Psophia sp. Volumetric Image Series 2020-09-14 Restricted Download  
000114982 partial skull macn:rn:1013 Dinilysia patagonica Volumetric Image Series 2020-04-28 Restricted Download  
000116147 skull USNM:MAMM:USNM 541408 Leontopithecus rosalia Volumetric Image Series 2020-05-17 Restricted Download  
000363010 holotype, anterior body musm:h:21540 Chiasmocleis devriesi Volumetric Image Series 2021-05-10 Restricted Download  
000141089 stained syrinx rmnh:5092441 Cardinalis cardinalis Volumetric Image Series 2020-07-28 Restricted Download  
000159227 skull tmm:m:10461 Platyrinchus mystaceus Volumetric Image Series 2020-09-08 Restricted Download  
000162766 whole specimen, stained personal collection:uncatalogued Archilochus alexandri Volumetric Image Series 2020-09-30 Restricted Download  
000158993 skull tmm:m:10443 Rhynchotus rufescens Volumetric Image Series 2020-09-02 Restricted Download  
000167368 head tmm:m:9039 Monodelphis domestica Volumetric Image Series 2020-11-25 Restricted Download  
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