Increased Resource Efficiency in Light Microscopy by Quality Control and Standards

• Applicants: Dr. Janina Hanne; Dr. Hella Hartmann; Dr. Roland Nitschke
• Subject Area: Cell Biology ; Anatomy and Physiology ; Data Management, Data-Intensive Systems, Computer Science Methods in Business Informatics ; Developmental Biology ; Developmental Neurobiology ; Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials ; Nephrology ; Plant Physiology ; Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566292487

QUAREP-LiMi started as a grassroots initiative in 2020 and developed into an innovative worldwide project focused on enhancing sustainability in research through the integration of quality assurance and performance monitoring in light microscopy imaging. By creating a standardised framework for assessing and documenting instrument quality, QUAREP-LiMi aims to ensure that research equipment remains in optimal working condition throughout its lifecycle. Consequently, this will improve the reproducibility and reliability of experimental results and reduce resource wastage by minimizing the need for repeated experiments. The harmonized quality metrics and user-friendly software tools developed by QUAREP-LiMi empower researchers to collect, manage, publish and exchange image metadata efficiently, supporting FAIR data principles. One key aspect of this grant application, work package 1 “Metadata for Microscopy” (MeDaM), addresses harmonising image metadata terminology among the industry and research community. As a result, the terminology of the microscopy metadata model NBO-Q will be updated, further maintained and expanded with a complete set of quality-related metadata. The agreed terminology is the base for a new ISO norm advocating microscopy hardware manufacturers to implement the community-agreed terminology. Validation of methods and protocols for determining the quality parameters is performed in Round-Robin tests in real live environments, and measurement results are made available to the community as an open-access OMERO image data repository. Developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for microscopy quality control will be advocated within the community. Teaching materials and workshops will be developed for teaching the teachers (facility staff) and young scientists. To provide the best possible balance of investing in instrument quality measurements and thus higher reliability of research data, effort required and benefits observed will be investigated. In addition, the growing international QUAREP-LiMi community working in multiple working groups urgently requires a dedicated coordinator to oversee the progress, install and maintain a structured internal communication and include all stakeholders. The coordinator will also organize and synchronize the QUAREP-LiMi activities, teaching and outreach and establish the working results within the community, including the involvement of publishers. The success of this project will be secured by the work of three key positions: a MeDaM Administrator to develop and manage harmonized metadata standards for microscopy, a Validation Team Lead to oversee the assessment and validation of instrument performance metrics, and a Community Manager to facilitate engagement and collaboration across the scientific community. By strengthening the core of QUAREP-LiMi, this project will increase resource efficiency in light microscopy through more sustainable, reliable, and transparent research practices.

• DFG Programme: Further Instrumentation Related Funding