Interactive Web-based 3D Viewer for Multidimensional Microscope Imaging Modalities

Recent advancements in the acquisition of digital imaging modalities with high-throughput technologies, such as confocal laser scanner microscopy (CLSM) and focused-ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM), are providing researchers with unprecedented opportunities to collect massive amounts of multidimensional datasets. This data can be used to visualize the internal structure of tiny particles (mostly cells and organisms) or to develop analytic algorithms. Visualizing newly obtained multidimensional microscope imaging data is beyond the capabilities of traditional 3D visualization packages, as it carries much information in the form of additional dimensions. Typically, these extra dimensions correspond to space, time, and channels, which has driven the development of new visualization applications. In this article, we describe the design and implementation of an interactive web-based multidimensional 3D visualization tool for CLSM and FIB-SEM microscope imaging modalities. The proposed 3D visualization application accepts DICOM files as input and provides a variety of visualization choices ranging from 3D volume/surface rendering to multiplanar reconstruction approaches. The solution performance was tested by uploading and rendering microscopy images of distinct modalities.