Data Analysis Center

The Microscopy & Imaging Core offers complete support for post-acquisition image analysis and quantitation, printing and storage.

Dell Precision *

Dual 3GHz Xeon Processors, 2GB Ram, 20" 1600 x 1200 pixels flat panel, 2x 111GB hard drives.

Dell Precision
Applications:
Universal Imaging Metamorph: Advanced image analysis program.
   
ImageJ: free software package specifically tailored for fluorescence microscopy.
   
Photoshop and Illustrator: bitmap editing and vector drawing programs from Adobe.
   
CorelDraw: bitmap editing and vector drawing package from Corel Corporation.
   
LSM 5 Image Browser: Free image viewer for LSM data files, no analysis functions.
   
Bio-Rad Lasersharp: off-line version of Bio-Rad MRC 1024 confocal microscope.

Macintosh G5 *

Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 Processors, 2GB Ram, 24" 1920 x 1200 pixels Apple Cinema display, 150GB hard drive.

Macintosh G5
Applications:
Improvision Volocity: 3-D rendering and deconvolution package for
real-time manipulation of confocal volumes (zoom, rotation, with
fluorescence, brightfield and isosurface rendering). The deconvolution package applies a mathematical algorithm to a stack of wide-angle or confocal images to improve the vertical (z-axis)
resolution. Animations may be exported to quick-time or avi files for use in presentations.
 
Photoshop and Illustrator: Mac editions of bitmap editing and vector drawing programs from Adobe.

(* Both workstations are located in room 5A10. Like our microscopes, these workstations must be reserved in advance using our calendaring system.)

Printers

 Fujifilm Pictrography 3500 photographic printer.
Canon i960 inkjet printer for photo-quality printing.
Hewlett-Packard 3700 color LaserJet for casual color printing.

These printers are available free of charge to our users. Note that, due to the high cost of consumable, we reserve the right to limit printer access in case of high-volume use.

Data Storage and Safekeeping

A 10 TB, fault-tolerant X-serve RAID disk array from Apple has been added to the facility in November 2004. Managed by the MIC staff, this server provides our users with ample storage space for the foreseeable future. The server name is "nichdmic". Contact us to obtain an account. Use of this server is subject to certain terms and conditions (Rules of Use PDF).

A second Apple X-Serve system running ATempo's Time Navigator software is used to back up all the workstations and the content of the file server. The current (September 07) retention time is two months. Since there is no guarantee the Core will retain their files for longer than 60 days, we strongly recommend that users burn their data onto optical media. Use only high-quality disks, low burning speed -16x max for CDs, 4x max for DVDs-, and turn file verification on.

High-Speed Network Connection

The data analysis workstations, storage server and acquisition computers are connected through a dedicated high-speed 1-Gbps network. This increased bandwidth allows for sophisticated experiments such as time-lapse, lambda mode or multichannel 3D confocal acquisition which typically results in large volumes of data.

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