diff --git a/loadANTS.m b/loadANTS.m
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/loadANTS.m
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+%======================================================================
+%                    L O A D A N T S . M 
+%                    doc: Thu Jul 21 22:53:21 2011
+%                    dlm: Thu Aug  4 10:54:24 2011
+%                    (c) 2011 A.M. Thurnherr
+%                    uE-Info: 18 71 NIL 0 0 72 2 2 4 NIL ofnI
+%======================================================================
+
+% NOTES:
+%   - very restrictive subset of ANTS standard:
+%       - no empty lines
+%       - no in-record comments
+
+% HISTORY:
+%   Jul 21, 2011: - began working on it
+%	Jul 23, 2011: - made it work
+%	Aug  4, 2011: - replaced "creator" by "Matlab_import"
+%				  - BUG: %PARAM names with . were not handled correctly
+
+function dta_struct = loadANTS(file_name)
+
+fid = fopen(file_name);                                     % open file
+if fid < 0
+    error(sprintf('%s: not such file',file_name));
+end
+
+dta_struct = struct('Matlab_import',sprintf('loadANTS(''%s'')',file_name));
+
+l = fgetl(fid);                                             % handle metadata
+while ischar(l) & regexp(l,'^#')
+    if regexp(l,'^#ANTS#ERROR#')
+        error(l);
+    elseif regexp(l,'^#ANTS#PARAMS#')
+        [tmp,tmp,ptk] = regexp(l,'([\w\.]+){([^}]*)}');
+        for i=1:length(ptk)
+        	pname = matlabotomize(token1(i,l,ptk));
+			if sum(size(ptk{i})) < 4	% empty def
+				if isfield(dta_struct,pname)
+					dta_struct = rmfield(dta_struct,pname);
+				end
+			else
+				numval = str2double(token2(i,l,ptk));
+				if isfinite(numval) | strcmpi(token2(i,l,ptk),'nan')
+					dta_struct = setfield(dta_struct,pname,numval);
+				else
+					dta_struct = setfield(dta_struct,pname,token2(i,l,ptk));
+				end
+			end
+        end
+		
+    elseif regexp(l,'^#ANTS#FIELDS#')
+        [tmp,tmp,ftk] = regexp(l,'{([^}]*)}');
+        fields = cell(1,length(ftk));
+        for i=1:length(ftk)
+             fields{i} = matlabotomize(token(i,l,ftk));
+        end
+    end % elseif
+    l = fgetl(fid);
+end % while
+
+if ischar(l)												% not empty file
+	isnumeric = zeros(1,length(fields));					% determine data types
+    [tmp,tmp,tk] = regexp(l,'([^ \t]+)');					% split into tokens
+	for i=1:length(fields)
+		numval = str2double(token(i,l,tk));
+		if isfinite(numval) | strcmpi(token(i,l,tk),'nan')
+			isnumeric(i) = 1;
+		end
+	end
+end
+
+dta = cell(length(fields),1);								% init data cell array
+
+while ischar(l)                                             % loop through records
+    [tmp,tmp,tk] = regexp(l,'([^ \t]+)');					% split into tokens
+    for i=1:length(tk)
+    	if isnumeric(i)
+    		dta{i} = [dta{i} str2double(token(i,l,tk))];
+    	else
+    		dta{i} = [dta{i} {token(i,l,tk)}];
+    	end
+    end
+    l = fgetl(fid);
+end
+
+for i=1:length(fields)                                       % copy to structure
+	dta_struct = setfield(dta_struct,fields{i},dta{i});
+end
+
+fclose(fid);
+
+return
+
+%----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+function tk = token(i,str,tki)
+	tk = str(tki{i}(1):tki{i}(2));
+	return;
+
+function tk = token1(i,str,tki)
+	tk = str(tki{i}(1,1):tki{i}(1,2));
+	return;
+
+function tk = token2(i,str,tki)
+	tk = str(tki{i}(2,1):tki{i}(2,2));
+	return
+
+function s = matlabotomize(s)
+	s = strrep(s,'.','_');
+	s = strrep(s,'3','three');
+