| Coordinator: | Peter I. Saparin, PhD | Max Plack Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm, Germany |
| Wolfgang Gowin, MD, PhD | Former Coordinator til July 31, 2004 | |
| Team Members: | Peter Fratzl, PhD | Max Plack Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm, Germany |
| Richard Weinkamer, PhD | Max Plack Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm, Germany | |
| Dieter Felsenberg, MD, PhD | Free University Berlin, Germany | |
| Gisela Beller, MD | Free University Berlin, Germany | |
| Jürgen Kurths, PhD | University Potsdam, Germany | |
| Norbert Marwan, PhD | University Potsdam, Germany | |
| Jesper Skovhus Thomsen, PhD | University of Aarhus, Denmark | |
| Hans-Christian Hege | Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB), Germany | |
| Steffen Prohaska | Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB), Germany | |
| Bruno Koller, PhD | Scanco Medical AG, Switzerland | |
| Thomas von der Haar, PhD | Siemens AG, Forchheim, Germany | |
| Christian Asbeck | Siemens AG, Forchheim, Germany | |
| Malte Westerhoff | Indeed - Visual Concepts, Berlin, Germany | |
| Project User Group: | Roche Pharmaceuticals, Switzerland | |
| Hewlett Packard (HP), Germany |
After the contract was signed on December 14, 2000; the project started at the beginning of January 2001. The first phase was successfully completed by the end of December 2002. These first two years are documented in the Final Report. The project team applied successfully for a three-year-extension, and received peer-reviewed approval for that in December 2002. The second phase started in January 2003 and will last until the end of September 2005.
The project develops the tools to evaluate structural loss in bone architecture and gains new quantitative information about the bone metabolism in microgravity condition. This evaluation is mostly based on symbolic dynamics and measures of complexity derived from the field of nonlinear dynamics. The most precise procedure for diagnosing structural alterations will be developed and scientifically proven through the research project. The outcome of such a comprehensive diagnostic program will provide the fundamental basis for monitoring, prevention, and treatment of structural changes of the bone in microgravity condition. This will have an impact on space-flying personnel and on patients with bone diseases on Earth.
The following tasks have been solved during the first phase of the project:
development of a method for non-invasive evaluation of the bone structure using 2D quantitative computed tomography images based on human specimens acquired at different skeletal sites,
development of a procedure for the precise quantification of a 3D bone architectural composition by analyzing human bone biopsy datasets obtained by micro-CT,
the new measures were tested on paradigmatic mathematical and physical models.
At this point in time the team is mostly involved in the validation of the findings by comparison of the micro-CT-outcome with static histomorphometrical examinations.
The following tasks will be solved during the second phase of the project:
adjustment and refinement of the developed algorithms for numerical assessment of the changes in bone architecture based on noninvasive patient examinations at different skeletal sites,
transfer of the methods for pre- and post-flight examination of space-flying personnel to quantify the rate of changes in bone composition caused by microgravity condition,
further investigation and development of 3D parameters that quantify the architectural composition of the bone (measures of complexity, porosity, topological and geometrical defect measurements) based on human specimens of proximal tibia biopsies, and lumbar vertebrae,
investigation of human iliac crest biopsies obtained from Russian probands before and after bed rest studies,
investigation and development of an ultrasound derived structural parameter,
continuous development of 2D and 3D bone models for the application to predict the susceptibility of bone structural deterioration during space flight.
The results of this project will have an impact in the following areas:
Health care for space-flying personnel,
Health care for patients with bone diseases on Earth,
Theoretical physics, signal and image analysis, biomedical science, material science,
Scientific visualization, image data analysis, and management of large data sets.
After the successful completion of the research program the prospects will be:
Microgravity effects on bone can be precisely quantified and monitored with the proposed technique.
Crew persons may be selected by model-based predictions of their potential bone structure loss.
The outcome of this research program will provide new information about bone metabolism and will lead to a better and quantified diagnosis for patients with bone diseases in general.
The expansion of the technique of symbolic dynamics and measures of complexity to analyze 3D data will have a significant impact on nonlinear dynamics. It opens new prospects to analyze, quantify, and compare numerically different aspects of structural organization when the information of the underlying model is not available.
An integrated 3D working environment will be available offering new powerful methods for analyzing and visualizing complex 3D image data for quantitative bone assessment.