[Satellite TODAY 06-27-13] Software designed for processing satellite pictures is now helping medical researchers to establish a simple method for wide-scale screening for Alzheimer’s disease.

 

    The AlzTools 3D Slicer tool was created by computer scientists at Spain’s technology firm Elecnor Deimos. These researchers drew on years of experience developing software for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Envisat satellite to create a program that adapted the space routines to analyze human brain scans. Working for ESA, the team gained experience in processing raw satellite image data by using sophisticated software routines, then homing in on and identifying specific elements.

 

    Adapting the techniques for analyzing complicated space images to an application for medical scientists researching into the Alzheimer disease required close collaboration between Deimos and specialists from the Technical University of Madrid.