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MoBIE: modern microscopy with massive data sets
High-resolution microscopy techniques generate huge amounts of data. Visualising, analysing and distributing such large image data sets is an enormous challenge. Scientists at the University of Göttingen and EMBL Heidelberg have now developed a user-friendly and freely available tool for this purpose: MoBIE (Multimodal Big Image Data Exploration). This enables researchers such as biologists who rely on high-resolution microscopy techniques to easily access various data sets from anywhere in order to investigate the processes of life in the smallest of spaces.
23/02/2023
The scientists originally developed MoBIE to create a high-resolution map of cells in Platynereis dumerilii, a small worm that serves as a model organism for evolution. This map combines electron microscopy data of one worm with genetic profiles of about 50 worms - the combination allows a very detailed comparison of morphology and gene expression. However, the integration of this enormous data set, which consists of ten terabytes of data from various sources, proved to be difficult with the existing tools. The research team therefore developed MoBIE: MoBIE enables direct access to the data in the cloud from any laptop without having to download it and without the need for programming knowledge.
After the first publication of the cellular map, the team realised that the potential of MoBIE could also be useful for many other applications in microscopy. The researchers therefore extended the functionality to support other types of imaging data, for example high-throughput screening microscopy, which is often used in drug discovery, and spatial transcriptomics, which is used for very detailed gene expression analyses. MoBIE is already being used in several other areas for data analysis and sharing.
„MoBIE enables the visualisation and analysis of large image data from hundreds of sources as well as the reconstruction of structures in the data, for example cells or organelles“, explains Prof. Dr. Constantin Pape from the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Göttingen. „This opens up the possibility for research groups around the world to share, analyse and interpret large amounts of microscopy data.“ Pape began his research at EMBL Heidelberg as a postdoctoral researcher and continued it as a junior professor at the University of Göttingen. MoBIE is available as open-source software and can be installed as a plugin for Fiji, a widely used toolbox for microscopy.
Press release of the "idw - Informationsdienst Wissenschaft" from 23 February 2023
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