Story update 8/26/2010: We incorrectly stated that Dr. Richard A. Spritz was from the University of Colorado in Boulder. He is actually at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver.
Researchers at the University of Calgary, University of Colorado, and University of San Francisco are using 3-D scanning in a study that may someday help children who suffer from cleft lip or palate. A severe cleft lip, in particular, can be devastating for a child in terms of physical and emotional health, as well as for the family—several corrective surgeries are required to correct a cleft lip, often leading to more than one hundred thousand dollars in medical expenses.
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Through this unique study, which compares the morphology (shape) of thousands of 3-D scanned faces to the DNA of each of the scanned subjects, researchers hope to identify genetic markers that point to the possibility of a person having a cleft lip or palette, explains Benedikt Hallgrimsson, a professor for the department of cell biology and anatomy at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
“The pie-in-the-sky future application would be the ability to repair a cleft lip and palate in utero,” says Hallgrimsson. “This might be a surgical intervention that takes place at 17 weeks into the pregnancy. We could use DNA tests to screen individuals for that intervention.”
To get to that point however, researchers need to identify the genetic markers that point to orofacial clefts. To do this, Hallgrimsson, along with Dr. Richard A. Spritz, director of the Human Medical Genetics Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, overall director of the study; and Dr. Ophir Klein from the department of Orofacial Sciences and Pediatrics and the Program in Craniofacial and Mesenchymal Biology at the University of California, San Francisco, are using Creaform 3D Body Digitizers to scan thousands of children between the ages of 4 and 11 years old in San Francisco; Denver, and in Tanzania. To get the best quality data, each child is scanned three times, involving 24 separate images, a process that only takes a few minutes for each child.. DNA is also collected from each child by having them spit into a cup. So far, about 1,000 children with normal facial development have been scanned along with about 150 who have orofacial clefts.
Later, statistical analysis is performed on the facial scans to identify the variations in key facial characteristics. These variations are then compared to the variation in the DNA to identify the parts of the DNA that correspond with these facial characteristics. This will help identify those genetic markers that point to the possibility for cleft lip or palette.
“The goal is to unravel the genetics of facial shape in humans,” says Hallgrimsson. “We think that the genetics of normal facial development can give us insight into abnormal facial development.”
Because Hallgrimsson’s team did their work in the field at urban and semi-rural schools throughout Tanzania, it was important to have scanning equipment that was portable and rugged enough to withstand the environment. “Creaform’s 3-D body digitizers have been put to the test in various challenging conditions for these studies and they have stood a tremendous advantage for their portability and durability,” says Hallgrimsson.
The scans also needed to be done quickly. The digitizers use a structured white light projection system combined with a video camera. The system allows Hallgrimsson’s team to scan a single view of a face in about a half second. Therefore a large amount of data can be collected from a lot of children in a short period of time.
“That’s the easy part,” says Hallgrimsson with a laugh. “Six weeks of data collection creates about six months of work for two people.”
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