Drosophila embryo expressing HisYFP captured by OpenSPIM
The OpenSPIM Wiki is available for viewing and contributions.
OpenSPIM is an Open Access platform for applying and enhancing Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM). SPIM is a hot and powerful microscopy technology that will in the hands of developmental and cell biologist bring novel insights into complex biological phenomena (e.g. by being very fast compared to point scanners, reducing phototoxicity dramatically, etc). Bringing the technology into those hands is the point of the OpenSPIM project.
The steps required for assembling the OpenSPIM - see the OpenSPIM Wiki for extensive details
OpenSPIM has very close ties to Fiji:
- The microscope is driven from the OpenSPIM plugin inside µManager running inside Fiji.
- Many of the complex image processing pipelines required for dealing with the massive multi-view SPIM time-lapse data like registration, fusion, deconvolution (coming soon) and visualization (also coming soon) are available in Fiji.
Fiji and OpenSPIM merge the ideas of Open Source software and Open Access hardware into one integrated platform ready for application and further technological innovation.
Importantly, many of the people behind OpenSPIM are also driving the Fiji project.
The motto of OpenSPIM is best summarized by this statement crafted by Pavel Tomancak and Johannes Schindelin.
We hope that OpenSPIM in its radical openness will demonstrate that the benefits brought to science by the Open Source approach apply equally well to hardware.
