Expanded Metadata Support in the Open Microscopy Environment's Bio-Formats & OMERO Data Applications

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Biological microscopy has always involved "imaging": images were initially hand drawn and with the advent of light-sensitive film, recorded and then reproduced on paper. These methods distorted the relationships between the signals they recorded (formally, they are "non-linear media"), making it difficult to use them for scientific measurements. However, the application of digital detectors to microscopy delivered "linear" measurements suitable for scientific use. This, combined with automation, spawned massive growth in the number and diversity of uses for digital imaging in basic and clinical research. Each platform produces many GBytes of data, usually in a closed, proprietary file format. These are powerful systems, but their full utility is limited by closed data and the difficulty of viewing and sharing large datasets on standard desktop computers. The Open Microscopy Environment (OME) has built open software tools that enable access, analysis, viewing and sharing of this data. Initially built for light microscopy, we have successfully extended these tools to electron microscopy, high content screening (used for drug discovery in pharmaceutical research) and digital pathology. This proposal seeks to extend the type of data that OME covers, specifically to support the output of analyses and measurements made on digital image data. All of OME's software and resources are open source, available on-line to anyone, and supported by a dedicated team that manages documentation and community outreach.