Public archives for biological image data

TL;DR

This paper discusses the importance and principles of creating comprehensive public archives for biological imaging data, which are essential for advancing research across various scales and domains.

Contribution

It outlines the rationale and guiding principles for developing image data archives, inspired by successful biomolecular data resources, to foster future discoveries.

Findings

Technical barriers to building image archives have been overcome.

Initial scientific outputs from public image data resources have been published.

Guidelines for constructing effective biological image data repositories.

Abstract

Public data archives are the backbone of modern biological and biomedical research. While archives for biological molecules and structures are well-established, resources for imaging data do not yet cover the full range of spatial and temporal scales or application domains used by the scientific community. In the last few years, the technical barriers to building such resources have been solved and the first examples of scientific outputs from public image data resources, often through linkage to existing molecular resources, have been published. Using the successes of existing biomolecular resources as a guide, we present the rationale and principles for the construction of image data archives and databases that will be the foundation of the next revolution in biological and biomedical informatics and discovery.