Glossary of Terms

S

• Scaffold

  A structure of artificial or natural materials on which tissue is grown to mimic a biological process outside the body or to replace a disease or damaged tissue inside the body.

• Sensors

  In medicine and biotechnology, sensors are tools that detect specific biological, chemical, or physical processes and then transmit or report this data. Some sensors work outside the body while others are designed to be implanted within the body. Sensors help health care providers and patients monitor health conditions. Sensors are also used to monitor the safety of medicines, foods and other environmental substances we may encounter.

• Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)

  A nuclear medicine imaging technique using gamma rays. SPECT imaging instruments provide 3 dimensional images of the distribution of radioactive tracer molecules that have been introduced into the patient’s body. The 3D images are computer generated from a large number of images of the body recorded at different angles by cameras that rotate around the patient.

• Spatial resolution

  The ability to distinguish between objects that are close to one another.

• Spectroscopy

  the branch of science concerned with the investigation and measurement of spectra produced when matter interacts with or emits electromagnetic radiation.

• Stem Cell

  An undifferentiated cell of a multicellular organism that is capable of giving rise to more of the same cell type indefinitely, and has the ability to differentiate into many other types of cells that form the structures of the body.

• Structural Biology

  The study of the structure of large biomolecules like proteins and nucleic acids, how the structure relates to the function of the molecule, and how alterations in structure affect function. Various methods such as crystallography are used to gain information about the structure of a molecule. This information is often analyzed with bioinformatics techniques to obtain or solve the structure of the molecule.

• Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM)

  A form of super high resolution microscopy designed to capture extremely clear images of cells and molecules, even when they are moving quickly. The sophisticated technique uses a number of filters and other light processors to rapidly scan images, combine multiple images, and eliminate out of focus light in order to obtain super-resolution images of cells and subcellular structures in motion.

• Synchrotron

  A large circular facility/device that accelerates sub-atomic particles in a magnetic field in a circular path that generates electromagnetic radiation with a defined exit (beam line). One type of synchrotron (a synchrotron light source) converts a high-energy beam of electrons into high-energy x-rays that can be used in a number of applications including biomedical imaging.