-- Farmington Voice, December 13, 2016
Harrison young leaders play Santa for kids in need
-- Farmington Voice, December 12, 2016
New equipment advances Beaumont research capabilities
-- Beaumont Ortho News, Fall, 2015
Three new high-tech pieces of equipment have boosted the capabilities of Beaumont Health Systems' orthopaedic research program.
In fact, according to research lab director Kevin Baker, Ph.D., the addition of two microscopes and a high resolution CT scanner “greatly advances our capacity to do high quality and innovative research.”
Baker said the new environmental scanning electron microscope provides a high-magnification view of biological material and devices. The extreme close-up, he said, helps researchers determine why devices and orthopedic implants that have been in patients have failed.
“It also allows us to characterize cell responses to different biological materials that we make,” Baker added.
The department's new White Light Interferometric (IFM) microscope gives researchers a close look at the roughness and topography on the surface of replacement devices, Baker said. The ability to see all features on the surface – even those that are about one million times smaller than the width of a human hair – provides a “quantitative and objective measure” of implant wear.
Finally, the hospital's new Invivo MicroCT scanner allows researchers to perform very high resolution CT (computerized tomography) scans on animals, “so we can keep the animal alive and monitored while they're undergoing their CT scans,” Baker said.
The width of an image on a normal scan is half a millimeter, he explained. The new scanner reduces that size to a couple of microns.
“We can do things like characterize bond formation over time associated with new drug delivery systems and scaffold materials,” he said.
The three pieces of equipment may be used in concert, and have individual benefits as well. And their acquisition moves Beaumont's research department to a new level of capability.
“There are not too many labs across the U.S. that are as well equipped as we are right now,” Baker said. “It's a massive step forward.”
