Welcome to the Amira-Avizo Software Use Case Gallery

Below you will find a collection of use cases of our 3D data visualization and analysis software. These use cases include scientific publications, articles, papers, posters, presentations or even videos that show how Amira-Avizo Software is used to address various scientific and industrial research topics.

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Three-Dimensional Architecture of Glomerular Endothelial Cells Revealed by FIB-SEM Tomography

Three-Dimensional Architecture of Glomerular Endothelial Cells Revealed by FIB-SEM Tomography

Focused-ion beam-scanning electron microscopic (FIB-SEM) tomography enables easier acquisition of a series of ultrastructural, sectional images directly from resin-embedded biological samples. In this study, to clarify the three-dimensional (3D) architecture of glomerular endothelial cells (GEnCs) in adult rats, we manually extracted GEnCs from serial FIB-SEM images and reconstructed them on an Amira reconstruction software. The luminal and basal surface structures were clearly visualized in ... Read more

Yuto Kawasaki, Yasue Hosoyamada, Takayuki Miyaki, Junji Yamaguchi, Soichiro Kakuta, Tatsuo Sakai, and Koichiro Ichimura

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Improving microstructural quantification in FIB/SEM nanotomography

Improving microstructural quantification in FIB/SEM nanotomography

Advanced nanotomographic analysis is still far from routine, and a number of challenges remain in data acquisition and post-processing. In this work, we present a number of techniques to improve the quality of the acquired data, together with easy-to-implement methods to obtain “advanced” microstructural quantifications. The techniques are applied to a solid oxide fuel cell cathode of interest to the electrochemistry community, but the methodologies are easily adaptable to a wide range of... Read more

Joshua A.Taillon, Christopher Pellegrinelli, Yi-Lin Huang, Eric D.Wachsman, Lourdes G. Salamanca-Riba

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In Situ Synthesized La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ–Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 Nanocomposite Cathodes via a Modified Sol–Gel Process for Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

In Situ Synthesized La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ–Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 Nanocomposite Cathodes via a Modified Sol–Gel Process for Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Composite cathodes comprising nanoscale
powders are expected to impart with high specific surface
area and triple phase boundary (TPB) density, which will lead
to better performance.

However, uniformly mixing nanosized heterophase powders remains a challenge due to their high surface energy and thus ease with which they agglomerate into their individual phases during the mixing and sintering
processes. In this study, we successfully synthesized La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe... Read more

Dong Woo Joh, Areum Cha, Jeong Hwa Park, Kyeong Joon Kim, Kyung Taek Bae, Doyeub Kim, Young Ki Choi, Hyegsoon An, Ji Su Shin, Kyung Joong Yoon, and Kang Taek Lee

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Human Motor Thalamus Reconstructed in 3D from Continuous Sagittal Sections with Identified Subcortical Afferent Territories

Human Motor Thalamus Reconstructed in 3D from Continuous Sagittal Sections with Identified Subcortical Afferent Territories

Classification and delineation of the motor-related nuclei in the human thalamus have been the focus of numerous discussions for a long time. Difficulties in finding consensus have for the most part been caused by paucity of direct experimental data on connections of individual nuclear entities. Kultas-Ilinsky et al. (2011, J Comp Neurol, 519:2811-2837) showed that distribution of the isoform 65 of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD65), the enzyme that synthesizes inhibitory neurotransmitt... Read more

Igor Ilinsky, Andreas Horn, Perrine Paul-Gilloteaux, Pierre Gressens, Catherine Verney, Kristy Kultas-Ilinsky

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Paleozoic Nymphal Wing Pads Support Dual Model of Insect Wing Origins

Paleozoic Nymphal Wing Pads Support Dual Model of Insect Wing Origins

The appearance of wings in insects, early in their evolution [1], has been one of the more critical innovations contributing to their extraordinary diversity. Despite the conspicuousness and importance of wings, the origin of these structures has been difficult to resolve and represented one of the “abominable mysteries” in evolutionary biology [2]. More than a century of debate has boiled the matter down to two competing alternatives—one of wings representing an extension of the thorac... Read more

Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Praha, Czech Republic and al.

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Organism motility in an oxygenated shallow-marine environment 2.1 billion years ago

Organism motility in an oxygenated shallow-marine environment 2.1 billion years ago

Evidence for macroscopic life in the Paleoproterozoic Era comes from 1.8 billion-year-old (Ga) compression fossils [Han TM, Runnegar B (1992) Science 257:232–235; Knoll et al. (2006) Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 361:1023–1038],  Stirling biota [Bengtson S et al. (2007) Paleobiology 33:351–381], and large colonial organisms exhibiting signs of coordinated growth from the 2.1-Ga Francevillian series, Gabon. Here we report on pyritized string-shaped structures from... Read more

Abderrazak El Albani, M. Gabriela Mangano, Luis A. Buatois, Stefan Bengtson, Armelle Riboulleau, Andrey Bekker, Kurt Konhauser, Timothy Lyons, Claire Rollion-Bard, Olabode Bankole, Stellina Gwenaelle Lekele Baghekema, Alain Meunier, Alain Trentesaux, Arnaud Mazurier, Jeremie Aubineau, Claude Laforest, Claude Fontaine, Philippe Recourt, Ernest Chi Fru, Roberto Macchiarelli, Jean Yves Reynaud, François Gauthier-Lafaye, and Donald E. Canfield

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Label-free 3D-CLEM using endogenous tissue landmarks

Label-free 3D-CLEM using endogenous tissue landmarks

We demonstrate feasibility of the workflow by combining in vivo 2-photon microscopy and focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) to dissect the role of astrocytic coverage in the persistence of dendritic spines.

Emerging 3D correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) approaches enable studying neuronal structure-function relations at unprecedented depth and precision. However, established protocols for the correlation of light and electron micrographs rely ... Read more

Manja Luckner,Steffen Burgold, Severin Filser, Maximilian Scheungrab, Yilmaz Niyaz, Eric Hummel, Gerhard Wanner, Jochen Herms

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Ovipositor of the braconid wasp Habrobracon hebetor: structural and functional aspects

Ovipositor of the braconid wasp Habrobracon hebetor: structural and functional aspects

The Braconidae are a megadiverse and ecologically highly important group of insects. The vast majority of braconid wasps are parasitoids of other insects, usually attacking the egg or larval stages of their hosts. The ovipositor plays a crucial role in the assessment of the potential host and precise egg laying. We used lightand electron-microscopic techniques to investigate all inherent cuticular elements of the ovipositor (the female 9th abdominal tergum, two pairs of valvifers, and three p... Read more

Michael Csader, Karin Mayer, Oliver Betz, Stefan Fischer, Benjamin Eggs

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Protocols for Generating Surfaces and Measuring 3D Organelle Morphology Using Amira

Protocols for Generating Surfaces and Measuring 3D Organelle Morphology Using Amira

High-resolution 3D images of organelles are of paramount importance in cellular biology. Although light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have provided the standard for imaging cellular structures, they cannot provide 3D images.

However, recent technological advances such as serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) and focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) provide the tools to create 3D images for the ultrastructural analysis of org... Read more

Edgar Garza-Lopez, Zer Vue, Prasanna Katti, Kit Neikirk, Michelle Biete, Jacob Lam, Heather K. Beasley, Andrea G. Marshall, Taylor A. Rodman, Trace A. Christensen, Jeffrey L. Salisbury, Larry Vang, Margaret Mungai, Salma Ash Shareef, Sandra A. Murray, Jianqiang Shao, Jennifer Streeter, Brian Glancy, Renata O. Pereira1, E. Dale Abel, and Antentor Hinton, Jr.

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Loss of adult skeletal muscle stem cells drives age-related neuromuscular junction degeneration

Loss of adult skeletal muscle stem cells drives age-related neuromuscular junction degeneration

Neuromuscular junction degeneration is a prominent aspect of sarcopenia, the age-associated loss of skeletal muscle integrity. Previously, we showed that muscle stem cells activate and contribute to mouse neuromuscular junction regeneration in response to denervation (Liu et al., 2015). Here, we examined gene expression profiles and neuromuscular junction integrity in aged mouse muscles, and unexpectedly found limited denervation despite a high level of degenerated neuromuscular junctions. In... Read more

Wenxuan Liu, Alanna Klose, Sophie Forman, Nicole D Paris, Lan Wei-LaPierre, Mariela Cortés-Lopéz, Aidi Tan, Morgan Flaherty, Pedro Miura, Robert T Dirksen, Joe V Chakkalakal

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Using micro-computed tomography to reveal the anatomy of adult Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Insecta: Hemiptera, Liviidae) and how it pierces and feeds within a citrus leaf

Using micro-computed tomography to reveal the anatomy of adult Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Insecta: Hemiptera, Liviidae) and how it pierces and feeds within a citrus leaf

The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri, is a harmful pest of citrus trees that transmits Candidatus Liberibacter spp. which causes Huanglongbing (HLB) (citrus greening disease); this is considered to be the most serious bacterial disease of citrus plants.

Here we detail an anatomical study of the external and internal anatomy (excluding the reproductive system) using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). This is the first complete 3D micro-CT reconstruction o... Read more

Javier Alba-Tercedor, Wayne B. Hunter & Ignacio Alba-Alejandre

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Quantified growth of the human embryonic heart

Quantified growth of the human embryonic heart

The size and growth patterns of the components of the human embryonic heart have remained largely undefined.

To provide these data, three-dimensional heart models were generated from immunohistochemically stained sections of ten human embryonic hearts ranging from Carnegie stage 10 to 23. Fifty-eight key structures were annotated and volumetrically assessed. Sizes of the septal foramina and atrioventricular canal opening were also measured. The heart grows exponentially throughout embr... Read more

Jaeike W. Faber, Jaco Hagoort, Antoon F. M. Moorman, Vincent M. Christoffels, Bjarke Jensen

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3D Dissection of Structural Membrane-Wall Contacts in Filamentous Moss Protonemata

3D Dissection of Structural Membrane-Wall Contacts in Filamentous Moss Protonemata

Cell-to-cell contact is essential for communication and development of multicellular organisms. A prerequisite is the passage through membranes. That way, molecular exchange and information flow is regulated via hormones, membrane proteins and pores.
In plants, the rigid cell walls prevent large membrane contact areas between protoplasts. Only plasmodesmata, minute channels between adjacent cells, form direct connections. Often, molecular data of the proteins involved are manifold but t... Read more

Dominik Harant and Ingeborg Lang

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The Architecture of Traveling Actin Waves Revealed by Cryo-Electron Tomography

The Architecture of Traveling Actin Waves Revealed by Cryo-Electron Tomography

Actin waves are dynamic supramolecular structures involved in cell migration, cytokinesis, adhesion, and neurogenesis. Although wave-like propagation of actin networks is a widespread phenomenon, the actin architecture underlying wave propagation remained unknown. In situ cryo-electron tomography of Dictyostelium cells unveils the wave architecture and provides evidence for wave progression by de novo actin nucleation. Subtomogram averaging reveals the structu... Read more

Marion Jasnin, Florian Beck, Mary Ecke, Yoshiyuki Fukuda, Antonio Martinez-Sanchez, Wolfgang Baumeister, Günther Gerisch

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The visible skeleton 2.0: phenotyping of cartilage and bone in fixed vertebrate embryos and foetuses based on X-ray microCT

The visible skeleton 2.0: phenotyping of cartilage and bone in fixed vertebrate embryos and foetuses based on X-ray microCT

For decades, clearing and staining with Alcian Blue and Alizarin Red has been the gold standard to image vertebrate skeletal development. Here, we present an alternate approach to visualise bone and cartilage based on X-ray microCT imaging, which allows the collection of genuine 3D data of the entire developing skeleton at micron resolution.

Our novel protocol is based on ethanol fixation and staining with Ruthenium Red, and efficiently contrasts cartilage matrix, as demonstrated in wh... Read more

Simone Gabner, Peter Böck, Dieter Fink, Martin Glösmann, Stephan Handschuh

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Mitochondria-rough-ER contacts in the liver regulate systemic lipid homeostasis

Mitochondria-rough-ER contacts in the liver regulate systemic lipid homeostasis

In this work, we studied mitochondria-rER contacts in vivo by serial section electron tomography (SSET) and 3D reconstruction analysis of cryo-fixed mouse tissue samples. We characterized this inter-organelle association as mitochondria tightly wrapped by sheets of curved rER (wrappER). Further, we used multi-omics and genetic approaches to obtain evidence that the wrappER is a distinct intracellular compartment and demonstrate the importance of wrappER-mitochondria contacts for v... Read more

Irene Anastasia, Nicolò Ilacqua, Andrea Raimondi, Philippe Lemieux, Rana Ghandehari-Alavijeh, Guilhem Faure, Sergei L. Mekhedov, Kevin J. Williams, Federico Caicci, Giorgio Valle, Marta Giacomello, Ariel D. Quiroga, Richard Lehner, Michael J. Miksis, Katalin Toth, Thomas Q. de Aguiar Vallim, Eugene V. Koonin, Luca Scorrano, Luca Pellegrini

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Influence of Copper Addition in AlSi7MgCu Alloy on Microstructure Development and Tensile Strength Improvement

Influence of Copper Addition in AlSi7MgCu Alloy on Microstructure Development and Tensile Strength Improvement

High market demands related to material quality and properties strongly influence redesigning of common safety loaded aluminum alloy castings. The quality of aluminum components and associated obtained mechanical properties are strongly dependent on the casting process and parameters, as well as on the chemical composition. Therefore, the redesigning of chemical composition of high-strength aluminum alloys becomes significant for safety critical structural components in automotive industry.Read more

Davor Stanić, Zdenka Zovko Brodarac, Letian Li

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Influence of Isothermal Holding on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Electron Beam Welded Dissimilar Inconel 718/ATI 718Plus® Joint

Influence of Isothermal Holding on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Electron Beam Welded Dissimilar Inconel 718/ATI 718Plus® Joint

Inconel 718 (IN718) is the most popular precipitation-strengthened nickel-based superalloy introduced by the Huntington Alloys Division of INCO in 1959 (Ref Read more

Oskar Dziuba, Grzegorz Cempura, Agnieszka Wusatowska-Sarnek & Adam Kruk

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An Anisotropic Microstructure Evolution in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Anode

An Anisotropic Microstructure Evolution in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Anode

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an electrochemical device that converts the chemical energy of hydrogen directly into electricity. A single cell usually has a form of a flat plate in which an impervious and dense ion-conducting electrolyte is sandwiched between two porous catalytic electrodes: an anode and a cathode. Fuel is fed to the anode side, and the air is supplied to the cathode. The gasses cannot mix to avoid unproductive combustion. Instead, gasses hit catalyst material, lose their... Read more

Grzegorz Brus, Hiroshi Iwai, Janusz S. Szmyd

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3D visualization and deep-learning reveal complex parasite networks in behaviorally manipulated ants

3D visualization and deep-learning reveal complex parasite networks in behaviorally manipulated ants

Microbial parasites may behave collectively to manipulate their host’s behavior. We examine adaptations of a microbial parasite in its natural environment: the body of its coevolved and manipulated host.

Electron microscopy and 3D reconstructions of host and parasite tissues reveal that this fungus invades muscle fibers throughout the ant’s body but leaves the brain intact, and that the fungal cells connect to form extensive networks.

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Maridel A. Fredericksena, Yizhe Zhangb, Missy L. Hazenc, Raquel G. Loretoa,d, Colleen A. Mangoldd,e, Danny Z. Chenb, and David P. Hughes, Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University

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Determining the bacterial cell biology of planctomycetes

Determining the bacterial cell biology of planctomycetes

Bacteria of the phylum Planctomycetes have been previously reported to possess several features that are typical of eukaryotes, such as cytosolic compartmentalization and endocytosis-like macromolecule uptake. However, recent evidence points towards a Gram-negative cell plan for Planctomycetes, although in-depth experimental analysis has been hampered by insufficient genetic tools…

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Christian Boedeker, Margarete Schüler, Greta Reintjes, Olga Jeske, Muriel C. F. van Teeseling et al.

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