Open Source Microscopy Software

描述（由申请人提供）：现代光学显微镜使用数码相机、电动载物台、快门、滤光轮等，需要由电脑软件控制。存在各种商业解决方案，所有这些都有缺点。什么？Manager软件应用程序是一款开源、免费的显微镜自动化软件，由科学家编写，可在Windows、Mac OS X和Linux上运行。它提供了一个易于使用的界面，通过该界面可以控制大多数显微镜硬件，使科学家可以轻松地使用不同供应商的设备进行实验。该软件在全球约2000台显微镜上使用，并为NIH提供了显着的节省，因为商业替代品的单个副本成本为5 - 15 k美元。?管理器还提供了一个硬件抽象层，供具有编程能力的科学家使用，以新颖和创造性的方式自动化他们的显微镜硬件。该项目的开源性质不仅使人们能够确切地了解采集协议是如何执行的（这在研究中很重要），而且还吸引了来自工业界和学术界的许多代码贡献。许多公司已经确保他们的设备在？管理和维护源代码为他们的设备在？管理器源代码存储库。超过50名程序员贡献了代码，这个数字还在继续上升。该拨款将用于继续管理这些代码贡献、定期发布用户友好的软件安装程序、改进文档、解决错误报告等。它还将用于为软件添加新功能，例如实时STORM/PALM成像、基于结构化照明的光学切片以及使用数字镜设备的光漂白/光激活。此外，将改进与现有开放源码显微镜相关软件包的集成。 公共卫生相关性：该项目的开发和维护？Manager是世界上唯一一款用于显微镜自动化的全面开源软件包。可供免费下载，？经理为NIH节省了大量的成本，并鼓励在光学显微镜中应用新颖的创新技术。? Manager软件用于控制世界范围内越来越多的显微镜（目前超过2，000台）。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Modern light microscopes use digital cameras, motorized stages, shutters, filter wheels, etc., that need to be controlled by computer software. Various commercial solutions exists, all of which have shortfalls. The ?Manager software application is open source, freely available software for microscope automation written for and by scientists that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It provides an easy-to-use interface through which most microscope hardware can be controlled making it simple for scientists to carry out experiments using equipment from different vendors. The software is used at about 2000 microscopes world-wide, and provides significant savings to the NIH since individual copies of commercial alternatives cost $5-15k. ?Manager also provides a hardware abstraction layer that is used by scientists with programming abilities to automate their microscope hardware in novel and creative ways. The open source nature of this project not only makes it possible to see exactly how acquisition protocols are carried out (which is important in research), but also attracts many code contributions from industry and academia. Many companies already make sure that their equipment works within ?Manager and maintain the source code for their equipment in the ?Manager source code repository. More than 50 programmers have contributed code, a number that continues to rise. This grant will be used to continue stewardship of these many code contributions, regularly release user-friendly installers for the software, improve documentation, address bug reports, etc. It will also be used to add novel capabilities to the software such as live STORM/PALM imaging, structured illumination-based optical sectioning, and photo-bleaching/photo-activation using digital mirror devices. In addition, integration with existing open source microscopy-related software packages will be improved. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project develops and maintains ?Manager, the world's only comprehensive open source software package for microscope automation. Available for free download, ?Manager provides a substantial cost savings for NIH and encourages the application of novel, innovative techniques in light microscopy. ?Manager software is used to control a growing number of microscopes (currently > 2,000) world-wide.