Three Dimensional Imaging of Frozen Oats.

Humans inhabit a three dimensional world but most of the data we collect for research is in only 2 dimensions.  Freezing tolerance in plants is frequently studied by looking at sections of plants under a microscope.  Understanding how these sections interact in z-space (the third dimension) is very difficult.  We developed a technique for aligning and reconstructing a plant in 3D using individual JPEG images taken with a consumer-grade camera on a microscope.  To show the versatility of this technique,  we present results from frozen and unfrozen oats as well as diseased corn seed and a liver portal track from a diseased dog.  The technique is well-suited for in situ hybridization to allow localization of specific mRNA in an anatomical context.