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Reading about the latest scientific discoveries, such as a new species of tiny dinosaur, can be fascinating. But what if it were possible to do more than just read about them? The Non-Clinical Tomography Users Research Network (NoCTURN) aims to make this possible by allowing people to download digital models and 3D print replicas of fossils shortly after learning about them. This international group is led by the University of Arizona Health Sciences, the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Florida, and the University of Texas.
"There are a lot of datasets available in various research repositories, but there are easily hundreds of thousand more on the hard drives and servers of all of the people who are funded by federal governments to do computed tomography research around the world, so only a small fraction are available to the public," said Paul Gignac from NoCTURN's leadership team and an associate professor at UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson. "We'd like to see that availability expand tenfold as it becomes more commonplace and expected that researchers and imaging facilities share these data in public repositories."
Computed tomography (CT), commonly used in medical fields for nondestructive 3D imaging, has significantly impacted science across various disciplines. CT scanning aids in studying organismal biology, manufacturing techniques, experimental medical devices, engineering structures, geological samples, prehistoric artifacts, or fossilized organisms.
Paul Gignac noted that CT's relative newness and rapid rise have resulted in a fragmented landscape. "There are dozens of manufacturers of high-resolution CT scanners, but few standards between them," he explained. "When I explain how I did a scan to one of my colleagues, we might not even be using the same language because the terminology for the same parameters isn't identical. I can send my colleague some files, but he or she may not be able to open them with their software because some file types are proprietary. Through NoCTURN, we are trying to smooth out those kinds of interoperability issues."
NoCTURN is a National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network comprising 75 researchers from 42 institutions worldwide aiming to improve data handling across scientific disciplines. Formed in 2022 alongside policy updates from the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy's Nelson Memorandum promoting equity and transparency in research.
The network engages with imaging facilities, academic departments, and data repositories to encourage data sharing while enhancing findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reuse (FAIR principles) of digital assets. They also collaborate with private companies for standardizing data acquisition reflecting open science principles.
"Open science and FAIR principles – findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable – should be the bedrock for science in the 21st century," Gignac stated. "Our goal is to develop practical recommendations that link today's tomography data with tomorrow's tomography discoveries. NoCTURN can be a template for other organizations on how to utilize the power of large networks to motivate communities to develop open science policies and practices."
Gignac detailed NoCTURN's development in a recent paper published in Tomography of Materials and Structures titled "The role of networks to overcome large-scale challenges in tomography: The non-clinical tomography users research network." The National Science Foundation partially funds NoCTURN under Award Nos. OAC-2226184, OAC-2226186 and OAC-2226185.