Science and Technology Facilities Council
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Telescope technology used for Durham University heart research project

Sophisticated optical technology developed at Durham University for use in the world's largest telescope is having far-reaching additional applications for research in other areas, including heart research. The technology is being demonstrated at the annual British Science Festival in Newcastle (12 September 2013).

Adaptive optics, which will allow astronomers to overcome the distorting effects of the earth's atmosphere on the quality of images obtained by the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), are also being used prominently for a research project entitled Beating Hearts at High Resolution.

The project involves two of Durham's Research Institutes, the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing and Biophysical Sciences Institute (BSI).

The aim is to improve understanding of the operation of the human heart to develop better drugs and treatments for heart conditions, concentrating research on hearts of zebra fish.

"Professor John Girkin, Director of the BSI and Wolfson Fellow at Durham University, said: "The high speed imaging allowed by adaptive optics is crucial because the hearts are moving and embedded in the body of an animal, meaning it must be imaged at depth."

"Zebra fish are inherently transparent, so we can see what is going on, which is of course crucially important. And there are two outstanding features; the zebra fish heart can repair itself, unlike the human heart, which can't do that even at a very early stage. We want to understand that repair process and translate it to humans.

"The other advantage is that most drugs work on the zebra fish heart in the same way as on the human heart, which has obvious experimental advantages”.

Professor Girkin added:

"We may be able to use zebra fish embryos as a screen for further therapeutic drugs for use in treating heart patients and also to model the biological and biochemical process to understand heart formation and heart disease."

Adaptive optics were developed because turbulence in the atmosphere makes earth-based observation similar to looking through bathroom window glass, ruining the sharpness of the images and making many types of astronomy next to impossible. Furthermore, these aberrations change every thousandth of a second, making a static optical fix impossible.

Scientists at Durham University have also been using adaptive optics in ophthalmic optics and vision science and have made a number of advances, ranging from "true" 3D images, which are more comfortable to watch than the conventional technology which merely tricks the brain into seeing a 3D image and can become uncomfortable, to new techniques for determining people's spectacle prescriptions. Making high resolution images of the retina is difficult because of imperfections in the eye; adaptive optics is therefore used to improve these images.

Similarly, using adaptive optics technology can aid ophthalmic diagnostics by producing more complete measurements of the eye than can be achieved at an opticians.

Colin Cunningham from STFC’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre who is leader of the UK E-ELT Project Office, said:

“It is very gratifying to see the investment we have put in over the last ten years in order to enable the E-ELT to produce exquisite images of the universe now bearing fruit in biological research. We look forward to seeing what other technological benefits will result from the -E-ELT”.

ENDS

Media Information

The "Beating Hearts..." project has received funding from the British Heart Foundation in the form of a Research Excellence award (awarded to Edinburgh) and Durham University has been working with partner institutions Harvard, Edinburgh University, Newcastle University and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

CANARY is a prototype for some of the advanced adaptive optics systems required for the E-ELT and operates like a 1:10 scaled model of E-ELT on an existing 4.2m diameter telescope. The system is called CANARY because it is a small version of part of the prospective EAGLE* instrument for the E-ELT, and also because it is deployed on STFC's 4.2m William Herschel Telescope, which is one of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, Canary Islands, Spain.

EAGLE will provide spatially-resolved (3D) spectroscopy in the near-infrared of 20 or more science targets (e.g., faint galaxies) simultaneously. It will sense and correct distortions from the atmosphere using multi-object adaptive optics, giving it an unrivalled survey efficiency even in the era of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Further information

For further information please contact:

Durham University Media Relations Office
+44 (0)191 334 6075

Photographs available from Durham University Media Relations Office:

  • Image of CANARY adaptive optics system in operation
  • Detail of zebrafish heart tissue
  • Professor John Girkin

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About Durham University

Durham University is a world top-100 university with a global reputation and performance in research and education. The most recent UK league tables place Durham in the top echelon of British universities academically. Durham is ranked in the top 5 UK universities in the influential Sunday Times University Guide 2013; is 26th in the world for the impact of its research (THE citations ratings) and in the world top 25 for the employability of its students by blue-chip companies world-wide (QS World University Rankings 2013/14). We are a residential Collegiate University: England's third oldest university and at our heart is a medieval UNESCO World Heritage Site, of which we are joint custodians with Durham Cathedral. Durham is a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities.

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