I-Corps: ViQi - online scientific data analysis platform

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

Scientific Imaging is fundamental to many disciplines and is no longer solely subjected to informal and subjective interpretation, but has become a source of quantitative evidence. While digital imaging platforms have progressed to the point where they deliver terabytes of data per experiment, our ability to manage, process and interpret images has been neglected. This team believes that quantitative digital image analysis will be required in many distinct scientific disciplines (e.g., medical, agricultural, construction, environmental monitoring), yet current tools are not well designed for handling the massive increase in data size and complexity. Robust image processing workflows have the potential to transform image-based sciences such as microscopy, medical imaging, ecology, and remote sensing. This project will develop an on-line web-based extensible platform for biological and other scientific image-processing. The platform will simplify sharing and management of vast amounts of scientific images and associated metadata. Large-scale data processing remains difficult for the general scientist without access to specialized programmers and hardware systems. The accessibility and relative low cost of the Cloud has changed the availability of the hardware, yet accessible and easy-to-use software is still lacking. The proposed platform, ViQi, will fill this gap by providing a cost-effective platform to organize, store, and analyze large multi-modal datasets. The core product will be based on the open-source platform BisQue, while providing necessary tools to particular industries including small-scale biotechs, big pharma, and possible agriculture studies. ViQi has the potential to expand the use of image processing methods to non-experts while allowing developers to create customized workflows for a broad array of application areas. As a cost-effective, cloud-based resource, ViQi.org will facilitate participation of diverse groups allowing them to address questions that would otherwise require expensive software.