Colourful 3D X-ray.

Company and their device

Prepared by Max Sintiuk

Company
New Zealand startup MARS Bioimaging has
created a 3D X-ray that allows you to get
clear color images of organs and tissues.

MARS Bioimaging Limited is a medical

imaging company based on spectral
photon counting computed tomography
for quantitative color imaging
investigations and cultivation.

The company was founded in Christchurch,

New Zealand to commercialize the MARS
imaging system for its applications in
medicine.

MARS Bioimaging Limited was founded

in September 2007 by father and son
professors, Phillip and Anthony Butler to
develop x-ray imaging.
Contemplating of device

The device is based on Medipix technology, developed by

scientists from the CERN association to track particles at
the Large Hadron Collider.

This technology uses a solid state photon-counting

energy-resolving detector layer bonded to the
Medipix3RX ASIC chip. The Medipix3RX chip was
developed by the Medipix Collaboration, which includes
CERN in Geneva and 18 research institutes around the
world. It is both energy-resolving and photon-counting
which enables true quantitative material decomposition.

The sensor simultaneously places each photon into one of eight energy bins based
on the x-ray photons energy or wavelength (five energy bins are used for image
reconstruction). There is no need for multiple x-ray beams, x-ray tubes, or
detectors. In addition, since every photon is processed, image quality is improved
at a lower cost of radiation dose compared to conventional CT. The Medipix3RX
detects and processes the interactions occurring between each photon and the
different atoms within the body. Information about the density and material
composition is captured.
What is already released?
Funding for research began in 2003, with
a NZ$500,000 grant from the New
Economy Research Fund. This fund
enabled New Zealand universities to join
CERN, including .
So far, MARS has released a medium-
sized 3D X-ray: it can be used to scan
individual bones, joints or blood vessels.

In the future, the company intends to

create a device for complex body
scanning.
The device is currently being tested in
the departments of orthopedics and
rheumatology of several New Zealand
hospitals. If the device works correctly,
the startup will release it to the market.
 History and intents
• In 2011, MBI released its first small-bore spectral CT
scanner for CT researchers and remains the only
company in the world with a commercially available
preclinical spectral photon-counting CT scanner.

• The Ministry of Business, Innovation and

Employment (MBIE) awarded MBI a High Value
Manufacturing award, worth NZ$13 million over
2014-2021.

• Since October 2015, Callaghan Innovations has

supported MBI in employing MARS researchers
through a number of Research and Development
Career Grants.

• In November 2018, the CEO of MBI was the first

living human scanned by a MARS system, followed by
the first patient scanned early 2020. On November
16, 2020, MBI international announced clinical trials
of their compact, point-of-care MARS system for
diagnosing hand and wrist injuries would begin early
2021.
Advantages and drawbacks
X-rays are electromagnetic waves in the range
between ultraviolet and gamma radiation.
Accordingly, the X-ray machine is a source of
ionizing radiation, a serious overdose of which
leads to the destruction of the integrity of DNA
and RNA chains.
Despite the fact that this technology is made
according to the latest standards and is much
less harmful to living organisms, it still remains
a type of X-ray.
Today, X-ray research is being conducted in an
incredible amount and helps researchers to
identify and work on the problem more easily.
Therefore, this technology, initially, will
provide a more accurate understanding by
doctors for making a diagnosis, and secondly,
in any case, it will not cause such a large dose
of radiation to the body as before.
Why was this technology chosen by me?

Firstly, I had an intent to announce you my own

thoughts about one technology was created by me in
my mind.
A small "Vizor" headset that could work as a
translator, navigator, telephone at the same time
and include a large number of other functions to
meet human needs.
Even a special program had to be created for it that
would show all the necessary information about
people before getting to know them.
Then I decided to choose another technology that
had a more or less similar example with the present.
As an outcome, in one article about the latest
technology and research, I found this startup.

I believe that this is a compulsory technology that opens up gorgeous

opportunities for research in science in the future. Therefore, it is a terific
istance for increasing our awareness and developing our understanding of the
modern universe.