SkyScan news

 

The annual SkyScan Micro-CT User Meeting took place in Mechelen / Belgium from the 7th till the 9th of July at “Lamot” Conference Center. Over 40 presentations with a high scientific level made this meeting a great success. We thank all presenters and participants for their great contribution.

SkyScan is proud to announce that it has established a US subsidiary.

SkyScan US is operational as of September 14, 2009 with a fully equipped demo lab for life- and material sciences in the San Jose BioCenter, 5941 Optical Court - San Jose CA 95138. You can reach SkyScan US via phone: (408) 960 7453, fax: (408) 960 3822 or email: dirk.laeveren@skyscan-us.com.The focus of SkyScan US will be towards sales and service activities. SkyScan US will supply micro-CT instruments for material science applications and ex-vivo life sciences in the Western States and in vivo micro-CT scanners for the life science market across the whole US. MicroPhotonics, SkyScan's distributor since 1999, will serve the Eastern States for material science and ex-vivo life sciences. SkyScan is convinced that with this new approach it meets the evolving market needs in the USA.

The new reconstruction software can run on any PC or cluster of up to four PCs under 32 and 64-bit Windows XP / Vista operation systems. Depending on the size of the cross sections, it provides speed-up x10 to >x50 compared to the fastest currently available software and x2...x10 compared to reconstructors using graphical processors (GPU). The InstaRecon® reconstruction engine runs on standard PCs without involving any special hardware or GPU.   Click here to get more details

The annual SkyScan User Meeting took place in Ghent / Belgium from the 22nd till the 24th of April. This year over 75 participants were coming  in “Het Pand” - an old Dominican monastery located in the heart of the city of Ghent, now congress center. Over 40 presentations with a high scientific level made this meeting a great success. During the meeting there was a contest for the best presentation, the best poster and the best micro-CT picture.

       click here to download SEM-microCT brochure in pdf format

On the 23^rd of October SkyScan celebrated its 10^th anniversary. Many suppliers, customers, distributors, the SkyScan-team and the members of the board were present. Especially the contribution to the success of SkyScan by Alexander Sasov, main founder of the company and R&D director, was highlighted during the speech of Tom Ceulemans, CEO.

The guests had the occasion the visit the newly equipped demo-room and the production hall.

 During the ten years of its existence SkyScan grew from a small company to a world-leader in micro-CT.

Today the SkyScan-team counts 25 employees and is represented in more than 20 regions worldwide.

The new control software for SkyScan 1174 scanner runs under Microsoft Windows Vista. Fully compatible with previous versions of Microsoft operation systems, it provides semitransparent windows and fade effects even under Windows-XP.  Full package including local and cluster reconstruction, measuring/analysis program and 3D realistic visualization can be used now in safe and reliable Windows Vista environments.

   click here to get SkyScan-1174 specifications

   click here to download new 1174 control software

To support the extension of research and development and fast growing production, SkyScan is moving to a new site. The company has purchased more than 8500 sq.m. of land in the Satenrozen industrial district in Kontich. The property includes a newly built production facility and offices with a total area close to 2000 sq.m. Starting from the 4th of December 2006 all correspondence for SkyScan should be mailed to the following new address:

SKYSCAN,

Kartuizersweg 3B
2550 Kontich, Belgium

Tel, fax, e-mail, web: remain the same

SkyScan starts production of several optional specimen stages for 1172 and 1174 scanners. The stages can be used for micro-positioning and sample scanning under specific conditions, such as compression, tension, torsion, cooling, etc.

   click here to get more details on optional stages

Field testing of the SkyScan 1072 and 1074 micro-CT scanners was taken to extremes by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, from Bremerhaven, Germany.

Dr Johannes Freitag describes how these two scanners were transported to their Antarctic research station at Kohnenstation, 75 South, 0° East. “The CTs  were placed in the red tent. We split the room into a cold room (about -10°C, isolated by a snow wall) for the systems and a warm part for the computers (and us)”. Despite these cold conditions the scanners performed well, showing Antarctic snow “flakes” to have an unusual hollow structure, quite different from snow flake structures in temperate latitudes.

Building on the success of their first trip, Dr Freitag and his group are planning further expeditions to their Antarctic station, collaborating with SkyScan to analyse larger snow cores non-destructively by high-resolution micro-CT.

 

Photos: Dr. Johannes Freitag
Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research

Columbusstrasse D-27568 Bremerhaven
Germany