Opportunities for the transfer of astronomical technology to medicine.
There are many examples of technology transfer from astronomy to medicine, for example algorithms for reconstructing X-ray CT images were first developed for processing radio astronomy images. In more recent times, X-ray detectors developed for the Hubble Space Telescope have been used in a fine-needle breast biopsy system. Software originally developed to mosaic planetary images has been incorporated into a system for detecting breast cancer. Australia has expertise in the development of instrumentation for producing radio images from an array of radio telescopes and in multi-object fibre systems for capturing the spectra of hundreds of stellar objects simultaneously. Two possible applications of these Australian technologies are suggested that may merit further exploration. A meeting between interested parties is suggested to discuss future directions and funding.
Hughes
S
S
Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. sw.hughes@qut.edu.au
D000465:Algorithms; D055580:Astronomical Phenomena; D001256:Astronomy; D001315:Australia; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008511:Medicine; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D018581:Technology Transfer; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data