Softscope
Digitalisation of fluorescence microscopy towards qualitative and quantitative structure elucidation

At a glance
- Project leader : Dr. Robert Vorburger
- Co-project leader : Dr. Nadina Müller
- Deputy of project leader : Dr. Mathias Kinner
- Project team : Adrian Busin
- Project budget : CHF 34'000
- Project status : completed
- Funding partner : Internal
- Contact person : Robert Vorburger
Description
Imaging techniques (photography, microscopy, tomography, etc.)
have long since become indispensable in the life sciences. A manual
evaluation of the images is still difficult to reproduce, due to
the large number of high-resolution images, it is practically
impossible to do so in time and is rarely statistically
significant. Software for the (semi-)automatic evaluation of images
must, however, usually be developed specifically for the
application. The Knowledge Engineering (FS KE) department of the
IAS would therefore like to increasingly establish and expand
digital image evaluation as a core competence with the aim of
making this competence available for the benefit of all institutes
in the department. In the context of digitisation, image
analysis/evaluation is also a key competence which is currently
still too little available but which is needed for the
implementation of the strategic goals.
The Food Technology Research Group (FG LMT) at ILGI hopes to use
fluorescence microscopy in addition to light microscopy for the
structural elucidation of food. The evaluation of microscopy images
is only possible optically with regard to qualitative (starch,
protein, ...) and quantitative aspects (localisation). This type of
evaluation depends on the person performing the analysis and is
therefore difficult to reproduce. The newly acquired microscope of
FG LMT is completely digital, which allows the use of an evaluation
software. Especially with regard to a standardized,
(semi-)automatic evaluation (and thus reproducible studies), the
process of image evaluation should be digitalized and at the same
time individualizable. For the FG LMT, this means a clear advantage
compared to other research institutions in the field of
process-accompanying analytics and thus clear support in achieving
the strategic goals.
FG LMT's new microscope and its need for a specific evaluation
software offer an ideal use case for the planned competence
expansion of the IAS. Both institutes will benefit permanently from
a long-term cooperation for the digitization of processes.