μManager is a software package for control of automated microscopes. Together with the image processing application ImageJ, μManager provides a comprehensive, freely available, imaging solution.
It works with almost all microscopes, cameras and peripherals on the market, and provides an easy to use interface that lets you run your microscopy-based experiments. µManager runs as a plugin to ImageJ, is Open Source, and is free. µManager is developed in Ron Vale’s laboratory at UCSF and is funded by an NIH grant R01-EB007187 from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NBIB).
µManager serves a double purpose:
- It is a complete image acquisition and microscope control package, available for Windows, Mac and Linux, easy to install and configure right “out-of-the-box”, with built-in functionality and user interface for most common tasks performed in a Life Science laboratory.
- It also is a software framework for implementing advanced and novel imaging procedures, extending functionality, customization and rapid development of specialized imaging applications.
The main features of the µManager application are:
- Cross-platform code-base (Windows, Mac and Linux).
- Full integration with ImageJ, a widely used, freely available image processing package, developed at NIH.
- Intuitive user interface and simple installation procedure.
- Maximally extensible through support for scripting and dynamic programming languages.
- Maximum speed and efficiency in all control paths to allow for very high speed acquisition rates
- Hardware abstraction interface to allow writing hardware independent user interfaces and scripts for all devices used in the automated microscope, regardless of type, manufacturer and native drivers.
- Programmatic interfaces to 3rd-party analysis environments (such as Matlab) to enable “intelligent data collection” — i.e. analysis driven acquisition.
Digital Imaging Systems have lots of experience with µManager and can offer installation, configuration and training to those who wish to concentrate on their science. Please contact us for a quotation.
