The radiological technologist at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital is
more likely to take CT scans of people who have cancer or have
been injured in a car accident.
But once in a while, Ugrin takes CT scans for Jack Horner,
curator of paleontology at MSU's Museum of the Rockies in
Bozeman. Horner recently requested the turkey vulture scan
because he has a theory that the Tyrannosaur rex was a
scavenger. He wanted to compare the dinosaur's characteristics
with those of a known scavenger.
"It was really interesting," Ugrin said about her first time
scanning the head of a frozen turkey vulture. "... It was kind of
exciting."
In an earlier project, Ugrin scanned the skull of "Big Al," a
dinosaur fossil found in northern Wyoming and kept at the Museum
of the Rockies. Jack and Celeste Horner requested that scan
because they were assisting a British scientist who wanted to
study the skull's design and function. Celeste Horner is in
charge of the 3-D Imaging Laboratory and the Histology Lab at the
museum.
The findings on "Big Al" were described in a recent issue of
Nature,an international weekly journal of science.
"It's nice to meet all these people and do something for the
community," Ugrin said.
She noted that she clears everything ahead of time with her
supervisor and schedules the fossil CT scans for slow periods at
the hospital.
"If something does happen, like an emergency, they have to
vamoose," she added.
Ugrin did her first fossil scan in 1982 in a private clinic
across from the old Bozeman hospital in the center of Bozeman.
Most of the time, the fossils look like nothing more than rocks
to her, she said. But Jack Horner points out the area he needs to
image. The fossil is placed on a couch. (It can handle up to 450
pounds and a fossil almost three feet wide.) The couch then
slides into the circle where the x-rays are taken.
"It's not like going through soft body tissue," Ugrin said. "You
need more energy to penetrate the fossil."
When Ugrin is finished, Horner takes the fossil and data back to
the museum. Ugrin returns to her patients.
Evelyn Boswell
