Data sharing is important in the biological sciences to prevent duplication of effort, to promote scientific integrity, and to facilitate and disseminate scientific discovery. Sharing requires centralized repositories, and submission to and utility of these resources require common data formats. This is particularly challenging for multidimensional microscopy image data, which are acquired from a variety of platforms with a myriad of proprietary file formats (PFFs). In this paper, we describe an open standard format that we have developed for microscopy image data. We call on the community to use open image data standards and to insist that all imaging platforms support these file formats. This will build the foundation for an open image data repository.

Data-intensive research depends on tools that manage multi-dimensional, heterogeneous data sets. We have built OME Remote Objects (OMERO), a software platform that enables access to and use of a wide range of biological data. OMERO uses a server-based middleware application to provide a unified interface for images, matrices, and tables. OMERO’s design and flexibility have enabled its use for light microscopy, high content screening, electron microscopy, and even non-image genotype data. OMERO is open source software and available at http://openmicroscopy.org.

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