MIBE Seminar: 3d Virtual Pathology & Advanced Disease Characterization Enabled by Propagation-based X-ray Phase-contrast Imaging

Title: 3d Virtual Pathology & Advanced Disease Characterization Enabled by Propagation-based X-ray Phase-contrast Imaging

Speaker: Prof. Marina Eckermann (Universität Bern)

Date and Time: Tuesday 01 July 2025, 13:00

Abstract: With their short wavelength, hard X-rays can penetrate matter such as biological tissues deeply, and provide information about its interior architecture at sub-micrometric resolution. This is exploited in computed tomography (CT), a technique to retrieve three-dimensional images of samples. Traditionally, the image contrast in CT relies on the absorption within the sample, the complex part of the refractive index. However, soft tissues absorb X-rays little only, providing little absorption contrast. Here, the real part of the complex refractive index can provide much more insights into the sample architecture: Propagation-based X-ray phase-contrast CT is a special case of X-ray imaging, which relies on self-interfering wavefronts, and requires no or little contrast agents. In the context of biomedical tissues, due to its analogy to pathological histology, this is often referred to as “three-dimensional virtual histology”. In this presentation, an introduction into the physical concepts of phase-contrast X-ray tomography will be given, followed by examples of its elaboration and application in biomedical research; one of which can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr8511