sofer@mbcl.rutgers.edu (12/13/90)
Archive-name: bionet/image-processing#/nih-image/1990-12-12 Archive-directory: alw.nih.gov:/pub/image/ [128.231.128.251] Original-posting-by: sofer@mbcl.rutgers.edu Original-subject: Re: Analysis of blots 'n gels - the public domain way Reposted-by: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti) In article <9012121602.AA08227@genbank.bio.net> RX80639%INDYLLY@PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU writes: >There are two other viable alternatives in the public domain world that allow >for reading/alysis of scanned gels, blots or TLC type plates. > ... > The other is Wayne Rasband's NIH IMAGE program. It does lots of wild >things interms of image acquisition, cleanup, and amalysis. Very easy to >quantitate a strip on a gel or chromatogram and then stick the results >directly into a paper. The latest version is available via anonymous FTP from >alw.nih.gov in the directory /pub/image. > > Both of these are Macintosh based applications. > >Wayne Kauffman > I want to strongly endorse and amplify these remarks. Image (1.33 is the current incarnation) is a wonderful program for analysis of gray scale pictures of all sorts. We use it for densitometric quantitation of histochemically stained cellulose acetate gels and for quantitating ethidium bromide stained agarose gels (photographic polaroid negatives). It will undoubtedly work for analysis of Southerns, Northerns and Westerns, and might even prove useful for obtaining data from sequencing gels. Instead of a scanner, we use a TV camera, an image capture board in a Mac II, and a good light box (Image can actually control the capture board). In this system we can vary the magnification and light intensity and capture images in real time. Densitometric quantitation is particularly impressive because the program allows one to take a known grey scale output (using a Kodak step tablet negative for example) and map this to the output of the camera that you are using. Wayne has also worked out a very neat way of subtracting backgrounds. The program also can adjust contrast, cut and paste gel lanes, do false coloring for detection of faint bands, and turn negatives into positives (and vice versa), among other things. It comes with a well written and illustrated manual, and Wayne supplies source code (Pascal). All this for free. To my mind, Wayne deserves the plaudits of the biological community for this fine effort. Bill Sofer