SBIR Phase I : Innovative System for Bioinformatics and Computer Microscopy

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I from MicoBrightField, Inc provides a plan for creating a bioinformatics system that will allow users to acquire images of complete microscopic specimens at the highest magnification of a light microscope, to store these very large images in a web-enabled database, and to share them with students and researchers over the Internet. For conceptual purposes, these very large images will be "virtual slides" that can be viewed at any magnification. An innovative viewer technology will, in effect, provide the capabilities of a "virtual microscope", one which will also provide additional capabilities, including dynamic zooming and panning for viewing the virtual slides. A demonstration web site will be set up to test the feasibility of the bioinformatics system. Although the general definition of informatics may vary, this system is comprised of three main functions: image acquisition, database storage, and visualization. The system will help bridge the current gap between computer technology and biology by providing an architecture that will decentralize data distribution so that virtual slides can be routinely shared throughout the educational and scientific communities. This bioinformatics system, consisting of software and hardware, will be marketed to educational and research institutions, providing them with the means to produce and view virtual slides on their own web sites. The software for creating the virtual slides will be sold with all components needed to set up a computer microscopy system. Among the longer-term opportunities for consideration are as follows: an Internet system for archiving and comparing images for clinical pathology, a service to create and maintain the virtual slides and database for a customer's web site, and creation of large-scale images for on-line text books and stereotaxic atlases in conjunction with an author and/or publisher