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Carbon Nanotube Field-Emission X-Ray-Based Micro-computed Tomography for Biomedical Imaging

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Book cover Carbon Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Biomaterials Science and Engineering ((SSBSE,volume 5))

Abstract

Conventional X-ray sources face limitations due to their reliance upon thermionic emission for electron generation. A recently developed X-ray source avoids this problem by using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a cathode material for field emission of electrons instead of a heated tungsten filament. This CNT X-ray source is built compactly and is capable of high flux and excellent temporal resolution, and it is well suited for a variety of biomedical imaging applications. Here, we discuss the design of a micro-computed tomography system employing a CNT field-emission X-ray tube and its applications for live small-animal imaging in preclinical studies of human illness such as cancer and cardiac disease.

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Acknowledgments

This chapter summarizes research which was performed at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill under the guidance of principal investigators Otto Zhou, Jianping Lu, and Yueh Lee. This interdisciplinary work was performed by current and former PhD students and postdoctoral researchers affiliated with UNC with backgrounds in physics, materials science, biomedical engineering, and chemistry. The authors wish to especially thank our current and former colleagues for their contributions, including Christy Inscoe, Mike Hadsell, Andrew Tucker, Emily Gidcumb, Lei Zhang, Jing Shan, Pavel Chtcheprov, Marci Potuzco, Jabari Calliste, Guohua Cao, Jerry Zhang, Xin Qian, Shabana Sultana, Xiomara Calderon-Colon, David Bordelon, Ramya Rajaram, Sigen Wang, Tuyen Phan, Ko-Han Wang, and Matt Wait. We gratefully acknowledge support for this research through grants from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and BioEngineering, the National Cancer Institute, and the University Cancer Research Fund at the UNC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 120 East Cameron Street, 27599-3255, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Laurel M. Burk PhD & Jianping Lu PhD

  2. Department of Radiology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 120 East Cameron Street, 27599-3255, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Yueh Z. Lee MD, PhD

  3. Physics and Astronomy, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 120 East Cameron Street, 27599-3255, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Otto Zhou PhD

Authors
  1. Laurel M. Burk PhD
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  2. Yueh Z. Lee MD, PhD
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  3. Jianping Lu PhD
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  4. Otto Zhou PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Otto Zhou PhD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Mei Zhang

  2. Soft Matter Materials Branch, Air Force Research Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio, USA

    Rajesh R. Naik

  3. Department of Macromolecular Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Liming Dai

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Burk, L., Lee, Y., Lu, J., Zhou, O. (2016). Carbon Nanotube Field-Emission X-Ray-Based Micro-computed Tomography for Biomedical Imaging. In: Zhang, M., Naik, R., Dai, L. (eds) Carbon Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications. Springer Series in Biomaterials Science and Engineering, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22861-7_6

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