Since the early 1980s, fetal ultrasound technology has been considered the gold standard for detecting birth defects. Ultrasounds can identify spina bifida, cleft lips or palates, even missing arms or legs.

New animal studies are underway to help researchers take the technology a step further.

"The essence of our study was to come up with very easy ways for geneticists who study birth defects, to use the tools of imaging in order to assess whether a birth defect was present," said Dr. Charles Keller.

One of the newest imaging tools is microscopic x-ray computed tomography, or microCT for short. This technology lets researchers see images in 3D and as tiny as one tenth the width of a human hair.

"By studying those birth defects in animals, you can very clearly study them in humans, or you can correlate them with the human birth defects," said biomedical engineery Suresh Prajapati.

Keller and his colleagues examined mice with facial abnormalities to study defects like cleft palates.

"And we don't have to slice and dice. We can look at the intact object and discover things that we never knew before," said Keller.

Their goal is to better understand birth defects, how to prevent them and how to treat them and ultimately to one day treat or completely reverse birth defects before a baby is even born. Researchers measured differences in skull and limb shape and length in other animals such as chicken, ducks, and a opposum.