Scientific Visualization

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Two images of an MRI "slice" through a human brain. The first is classified with a simple material choice at each pixel, and the second is calculating mixtures of materials for every pixel for a more accurate representation.

Project Overview

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research in the Center includes the measurement of biological structures and the creation of geometrically and physically accurate representations of those structures as graphics models. Through the Biological Imaging Center at Caltech, the Center has access to an MRI microscope capable of ten-micron resolution, as well as access to clinical MRI machines. Using chemical segmentation and Bayesian classifications, we have developed an approach to tissue classification from volumetric MRI data. Our new family of classification algorithms models the voxel histograms with new mixture basis functions, and accurately locates pieces of geometric surfaces within voxels [LAID96].


Center Sites

Caltech

Lead Researchers

David Laidlaw
Alan H. Barr

Bibliographic References

[LAID96]* D.H. Laidlaw, A.H. Barr, and R.E. Jacobs, "Goal-Directed Magnetic Resonance Brain Micro-Imaging," Neuroinformatics: An Overview of the Human Brain Project, Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., Mahwah, NJ, S.J. Koslow and M. F. Huerta (eds.), 1997, Chapter 6, pp. 125-202.

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Web References

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