Implementing a Collaboratory for Microscopic Digital Anatomy

Abstract

The Collaboratory for Microscopic Digital Anatomy (CMDA) will allow biologists at remote locations to acquire over the network three-dimensional data on biological structure using a sophisticated high-voltage electron mi croscope (HVEM) located in San Diego. The CMDA will transparently distribute to high-performance machines on the network computationally intensive tasks for the deriva tion of three-dimensional datasets from HVEM images using tomography and for volume visualization. Implemen tation of the CMDA includes development of automated microscope functions for specimen positioning, image fo cus, registration, and acquisition; an asynchronous com munications system for transporting messages and large data sets between processes; a resource manager for access control and routing of tasks to computing or acqui sition resources; and systems for tomographic reconstruc tion and three-dimensional volume visualization. The CMDA is designed to be extensible to other unique cen tralized instruments. It will increase access to and use of these instruments and high-performance computers by biologists and facilitate remote collaboration.