EMU: reconfigurable graphical user interfaces for Micro-Manager

摘要

Light microscopy is an ever-growing field with countless applications in biosciences. A substantial portion of technology developments and cutting-edge research are carried out on custom microscopes because of their high flexibility. Beyond the mechanical and optical requirements of such microscopes, researchers face the challenges of controlling the hardware and presenting the users with an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). While control software are often developed for a specific instrument, a number of more general platforms are available. These software can be commercially available, such as MetaMorph (Molecular Devices), SlideBook (3i), SciScan (Scientifica) or ScanImage (Vidrio) [1], or shared online by their authors. They span a variety of programming languages, allowing users to work with their preferred tools and facilitating post-processing and analysis. Examples of such microscope control software are found for LabView (National Instruments) [2], Matlab (MathWorks) [3] or Python [4–7]. Another well-established alternative is Micro-Manager (µManager) [8], an open-source software written in C++ and Java, and based on ImageJ [9].