The increasing complexity and volume of microscopy data is presenting an opportunity for computational scientists to decipher fundamental biological processes by analyzing image data. Discovery of complex dynamic patterns in such data require deep knowledge of the biological process, the experimental possibilities, the type of information that can be extracted and the computational tools to extract it. The field is desperately in need of computational (or ‘dry’) cell biologists, interdisciplinary scientists who can drive biological inquiry by bridging cell biology and computer science.
One key step toward this vision is making image cell data publicly available for secondary analysis, and appreciation of such research by the cell biology community. As in the emergence of Bioinformatics, data availability will first enable computational scientists to develop algorithms and tools for data analysis, and next will engage them in the underlying biology. We are now at the dawn of this revolution: infrastructure is constantly being developed for data standardization, deposition, sharing and analysis; journals and funding agencies mandate data deposition; data journals publish high-content microscopy datasets; quantification becomes standard in scientific publications; new analytic tools are being developed and dispatched to the community. In my talk I will reflect on opening cell imaging data, and the opportunities that will come along with it, providing specific examples from my own research.
The talk will be based on a Perspective that will be published next month. I am about to start my independent lab next fall, it will focus on computational data science in the realm of live cell imaging.
