MicroCT Scanning

Please contact Dr. Guo ( ed.guo@columbia.edu ) to get approval for using the microCT scanner. If you have been approved, please strictly follow the rules listed below:

Reservation

  1. Due to the frequent use of microCT machine, please schedule your scanning as early as possible. Log on to Google Calendar to make your reservation.
  2. If you plan to scan a large number of specimens (n>10) within a few days, please email X. Henry Zhang ( xz2107@columbia.edu ) to make a special reservation. It takes much longer for the microCT scanner to reconstruct the scanned image than the scanning itself. Processing a large number of tasks at the same time may cause the microCT server busy and hung-up in the following days.
  3. If procedures in 1 and 2 are not followed, all ongoing tasks on the microCT scanner are liable of deletion without notice.

Operation

  1. New personnel has to be approved before operate the scanner. In general, only doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows are allowed to operate the scanner independently after training. No undergraduate student will be allowed to operate the microCT scanner independently.
  2. Please write down the following information in the microCT log book for each microCT task (scanning, reconstruction, or analysis): operator, start and end time, all the measurements number, and any of the unusual circumstances during the scan. Any task (scanning, reconstruction, or analysis) without appropriate logs in the microCT log book is liable of deletion without notice.
  3. No operation, including scanning, data analysis or data backup, by the personnel outside the Bone Bioengineering Lab is allowed during weekends and Holidays. Please schedule your experiment between 9AM to 6PM in weekday. Please do not start a new task after 5:30PM.
  4. Please do NOT perform data analysis (automatic analysis after selecting the volume of interest (VOI)) for multiple specimens at the same time. Submitting a large number of jobs at the same time may cause the server busy and hung-up.
  5. All ongoing tasks without following procedures 3 and 4 are liable of deletion without notice.
  6. The X-ray tube of the microCT scanner has a limited life-hour. Please optimally design your experiment to select an appropriate resolution and VOIs.
  7. Please make sure to TURN OFF the scanner after the completion of your last task.

Data Backup

  1. Please bring your own tape for each microCT task and backup as frequently as appropriate.
  2. Due to the limitation of the hard disk space on the microCT server, please backup and remove your data as soon as possible. Data older than two weeks is liable of deletion without notice.
  3. Never open two backup programs at the same time, it will not function.