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Confocal Microscopy Internet Resources
Digital Image Processing and Analysis Resources
Despite the availability of the latest state of the art hardware, microscopists are often required to utilize advanced software for acquisition, processing, archiving, and retrieval of digital images in order to examine and reveal certain fine specimen details that would otherwise remain unseen. A wide range of companies offer such specialized software, providing consumers with a host of options for meeting the specific digital image processing and analysis requirements created by their application needs.
Advanced Imaging Concepts - A provider of both hardware and software, Advanced Imaging Concepts helps meet the digital imaging needs of today’s microscopists. One of their most popular products is Image Central, a simple, but powerful tool for managing and archiving digital images, which is designed for use with Windows 95/98/NT.
Alicona Imaging - Alicona is a German company that manufactures three-dimensional image processing software that can deal with data from a variety of contrast enhancing modes in optical microscopy, including brightfield, darkfield, DIC, stereo, and confocal. They also offer packages for image restoration, analysis, and measurement.
Alpha Innotech - Alpha Innotech is a genomic tools company that offers innovative solutions in digital imaging and genetic analysis. The company’s leading image processing software is AlphaEase, an integrated set of image acquisition, enhancement, data management, and automatic analysis tools. In addition to descriptions of such products, the website includes listings of upcoming trade shows, FAQs, links to related sites, application notes, and publication references.
Applied Imaging - A worldwide leader in genetic image analysis, Applied Imaging offers the widest range of imaging systems available for genetic analysis in cancer and prenatal testing. The company also produces systems that focus upon human clinical cytogenetics, plant and animal genetics, and cancer research. Some of their core technologies include karyotyping, FISH, MFISH, CGH, rare cell detection, and darkfield/brightfield slide scanning systems.
Applied Precision - The Seattle-based Applied Precision develops measurement and analysis tools enabling accuracy-critical applications in biotechnology research, semiconductor metrology, photonics, flow control, and micropositioning. In addition to product details, the company’s website offers FAQs and a gallery of QuickTime movies and still images.
AutoQuant Imaging - AutoQuant is a privately-held software company that addresses the needs of life science microscopists by producing image restoration software products, such as their popular AutoDeblur and AutoVisualize packages. The company's website includes a thorough support section with a FAQ, online training, application notes, and a dataset assistance submission form for individuals having difficulty processing a dataset.
Bitplane AG - The Imaris suite of software programs, which was developed by Bitplane AG and initially launched in 1993, can be added to most any 3D or 4D microscope to provide a number of highly useful visual and analytic features. The company offers a free demo version of Imaris for scientists wishing to try the software before committing to a purchase and also provides extensive customer support, a web gallery, and a calendar of microscopy-related events via their website.
Clemex - Self-dubbed “the image analysis people,” Clemex provides a variety of software and hardware solutions to help laboratories analyze their images in a more timely and cost-effective manner. The website provides a schedule of upcoming image analysis courses in addition to product information, and a FAQ and tutorial are reportedly coming soon.
Data Translation - Data Translation designs, manufactures, and markets high-performance hardware and software for PC-based data acquisition, imaging, machine vision, and multimedia. One of the company’s principal products is DT Vision Foundry, a flexible machine vision software package that contains powerful tools for image pre-processing measurement, analysis, and data transfer operations.
IATIA Ltd - IATIA offers digital phase contrast image generation software for confocal and light microscopy that does not require additional hardware or optics. Product descriptions, numerous sample images, and application information are available on the website.
Image Content Technology - The manufacturer of the remarkable contrast-enhancing image processing software package called Lucis, Image Content Technology provides advanced image analysis solutions for optical microscopy applications. The company’s website includes a software tutorial, articles relating to applications, free demos, and a section on Lucis Art.
Imaging Associates - Since the company was established in the United Kingdom in 1992, Imaging Associates has developed exclusive partnerships with leading manufacturers in order to provide comprehensive imaging and microscopy solutions. Their specialty is biomedical, materials science, and cytogenetic imaging, but the company also offers software that can provide powerful image analysis in a wide variety of other fields.
Improvision Inc. - Several different image acquisition and analysis software programs are offered by Improvision Inc., an international scientific imaging company founded in 1990. Some of their key products include Volocity, a high performance 3D imaging system, Openlab, which is a modular imaging program designed specifically for imaging cells, and Phylum, a software product designed for the quick and easy management of digital images.
Impuls - Impuls GmbH was founded in Germany in 1995, quickly becoming an important provider of scientific image processing and analysis tools that fully exploit the capabilities of Microsoft Windows. The company’s general purpose analysis system is Vision, a flexible and customizable solution for a variety of application needs.
Intelligent Imaging Innovations, Inc. - Slidebook, a software application equipped with all of the tools necessary for image processing and analysis, is offered by Intelligent Imaging Innovations, Inc. Founded in 1995, the company also offers digital microscopy workstations and imaging solutions for wide field, spinning Nipkow disk, and FRAP experiments.
Isee Imaging Systems - Isee Imaging Systems has been providing clients with fully integrated imaging systems for a wide array of biological, biomedical, industrial, and semiconductor applications since 1985. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, the company offers software solutions that enable the user to choose from several imaging platforms without sacrificing the power, speed, versatility, functionality, or ease of use with which their products have become associated.
ITT Visual Information Solutions - The IDL (Interactive Data Language) data analysis and visualization software produced by Research Systems Inc., which is now ITT Visual Information Solutions, was originally developed in the late 1970s for NASA. Due to the need for such software that has developed in a number of industries since then, the IDL package is now available to microscopists, researchers, engineers, and others. The ITT website offers an array of useful information in addition to product descriptions and details, such as tech tips, FAQs, a training course schedule, on-line seminars, and a user forum.
Kodak Scientific Imaging Systems - Kodak offers a considerable line of products for scientific imaging, including digital image capture systems such as the MDS and the new Gel Logic 200, film, printers, accessories, and image analysis software. The website features a number of helpful resources, many of which are found in the Scientific Imaging Reference Library, as well as detailed information on system requirements, specifications, and upgrades.
Media Cybernetics - A pioneer of PC-based imaging solutions, Media Cybernetics was founded in 1981 and has since become a principal global provider of analysis software that can automate research, development, and quality control processes in industrial and life science applications. Some of the company’s leading products include the Image-Pro imaging software, Array-Pro Analyzer, Gel-Pro Analyzer, and the IQbase image database.
Mercury Computer Systems Inc. - Mercury Computer Systems Inc. is a supplier of high-performance digital signal and image processing systems headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. The TGS Group that developed the popular amira 3D visualization software was acquired by the company in 2004, and amira products are now offered by Mercury Computer Systems. A variety of editions and add-ons for the software enable amira to meet a broad array of research needs.
Mideo Systems Inc. - Mideo Systems Inc. specializes in providing integrated hardware and software image acquisition and management systems to forensic laboratories and educational institutions. The company’s line of video microscopy products may also be adapted for use in manufacturing, as well as the medical and biological sciences.
Molecular Devices - Molecular Devices supplies a variety of bioanalytical measurement systems, reagents, and software designed to facilitate drug discovery and other life science-related research. The company acquired Universal Imaging Corporation in 2002 and continues to offer the high quality, fully supported software and integrated imaging systems associated with that name. The MetaMorph, which is an integration of software and hardware that facilitates the automatic capture and analysis of digital images and video, is one of the company’s key imaging products.
NorPix - A leading provider of image processing software and live digital recording solutions for industrial and scientific applications, NorPix offers several quality products, such as the StreamPix digital recording software package and the Visilog6 image processing and analysis software package.
Scanalytics - Now part of BD Biosciences, Scanalytics creates software that can be integrated into high-performance vision systems specifically designed to meet the needs of scientific researchers in biotechnology and the life sciences. IPLab for Windows and Macintosh forms the core of the company’s microscopy packages, which can be utilized for a variety of applications, including fluorescence microscopy, multiprobe imaging, FISH, microarray screening, deconvolution, genotyping, and more.
Scientific Volume Imaging - Specializing in deconvolution and volume rendering software, this company offers several software packages available to the microscopist. The Huygens Professional is a deconvolution application that enables restoration of widefield and confocal 2D, 3D and 4D (time series) images using a UNIX platform that operates on Silicon Graphics computers or LINUX on personal computers. The Huygens Essential is based on the same compute engine, but has a wizard driven user interface that makes deconvolution user-friendly. The software is available for a number of platforms, including Windows, LINUX, IRIX, IBM AIX, and Macintosh OS X.
Scientific Volume Imaging: FreeSFP - Based on a physically realistic light propagation model, the SFP renderer allows you to view your raw and deconvolved multi-channel 3D datasets in a very intuitive manner. This freeware is downloadable from SVI's website.
Scion Corporation - Scion Corporation develops and manufactures quantitative digitizer boards designed to accommodate scientific and industrial imaging applications. The company’s frame grabbers are supported by an advanced image acquisition and analysis package called Scion Image, which is based on the popular Macintosh image processing software NIH Image and is available free of charge in Windows or Macintosh versions.
Soft Imaging System - Producers of high-quality imaging software and hardware since 1987, Soft Imaging System products are frequently utilized in the materials science, biomedicine, life science, and semiconductor sectors for image acquisition, archiving, processing, analysis, and report generation. The company’s foremost aim is to provide the functionality and efficiency users need.
Syncroscopy Digital Microscopy - A division of Synoptics formed in 1998, Syncroscopy produces software and hardware systems that apply the techniques of digital imaging to applications in microscopy. One of the company’s chief products is Auto-Montage, a unique, three-dimensional digital imaging system that produces perfectly focused images regardless of the traditional limitations imposed by the depth of focus of the optics.
The Imaging Source - The Imaging Source is an online provider of digital imaging hardware and software. Their comprehensive site not only includes product details, but also background information on topics such as optics, lighting, cameras, frame grabbers, and digital imaging software. A bi-monthly newsletter about the constantly changing world of industrial and scientific imaging, discussion forums, and technical support for the company’s products are also accessible from the homepage.
TILL Photonics - TILL Photonics develops, manufactures, and distributes components and turnkey systems for fluorescence microscopy. The basis of all TILL imaging systems is TILLvisION, a combination of specially made and selected components coupled with imaging software that supports even the most advanced and complex experiments.
VayTek, Inc. - VayTek Image is an image processing and data acquisition software program produced by VayTek, Inc. that enables researchers to obtain images in real time from their microscopes and to process the images in order to emphasize the most relevant features. VayTek, Inc. also offers VoxBlast, a 3D measurement and volume rendering program, and several solutions for those who need integrated imaging systems.
Visus Technology Transfer - Visus Technology Transfer is a spin-off of the University of Witten/Herdecke that specializes in software and systems for the communication and visualization of images. The products offered by the company are primarily targeted to the medical community, but could be utilized by individuals in other fields needing to manage and archive a large number of images.
Vital Images, Inc. - The primary focus of Vital Images, Inc. since 1994 has been to meet the image processing and visualization needs of the medical industry. The company's key offering for 3D rendering and analysis is the Vitrea 2 software package. The website features an impressive media gallery, training information, and industry links in addition to detailed product and company information.