This application outlines the request for advanced image processing equipment by an interdisciplinary group of investigators at the University of Minnesota. The equipment requested will form the basis for a Biomedical Image Processing Facility at the University of Minnesota which will be used to expedite and enhance image-intensive investigations supported primarily by NIH. In particular, the image processing equipment proposed herein will be interfaced as directly as possible with image producing technology that is used especially in structurally-oriented research questions. The tasks to be accomplished by acquisition and use of this equipment fall into four general categories: 1) Two-dimensional stereology; 2) Two-dimensional feature extraction; 3) Real time, two-dimensional video-enhanced imaging; 4) Pseudo three-dimensional image reconstruction. These tasks will be accomplished with a general-purpose image processing computer that will be provided with high-resolution video and photodiode array camera input. Imaging tasks that are computationally intensive will be aided by the link to a minicomputer and a high speed telecommunications link to the University of Minnesota Cray 1-S supercomputer facility.
