About  |  Date, Time & Location  |  To Register  |  Instructors  |  Workshop Schedule  |  RCR Training Credit  |   Want to learn more?  |  History

According to the National Library of Medicine, in fiscal year 2015 there were nearly 700 papers retracted (a 37% increase) and the numbers of errata increased as well (over 12,000, a 30% increase) (1, 2). A 2016 paper published in mBio visually screened over 20,000 publications looking for image manipulation issues, the authors found that "Overall, 3.8% of published papers contained problematic figures, with at least half exhibiting features suggestive of deliberate manipulation." (3). Inappropriate image manipulation practices have been found in papers from a wide variety of fields, not just biomedical research.

About the Workshop:

The primary goal of this workshop is to show that images are data, to illustrate what can be done with those data, and the ease with which they can be compromised. Presentations will include what constitutes a digital image, what goes into acquiring good images, as well as jargon and concepts associated with digital images. These include such topics as pixels, resolution, over-saturation, color space, image format, bit depth, and image processing filters. While the use of digital images is common in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, the majority of examples will come from the world of microscopy. Options and formats for presentation of images will also be presented, as will a discussion of the ethical (and not so ethical) use of digital images. It should be noted that this is NOT a workshop on image analysis, microscope techniques, or a Photoshop tutorial.

Date, Time & Location:

We anticipate the 2025 workshop occurring the either August 20 or August 22, 2025. We are working on a location.

To Register:

Registration will open in late July.

Responsible Conduct of Research - training credit:

We are collaboration with the Responsible Conduct of Research training office. They are excited to work with us on this project and will offer some training credit towards the NIH requirements. Unfortunately, the NSF requirements are more tightly scripted and this workshop will not meet the NSF requirements. For more information about the Responsible Conduct of Research, please visit the University’s RCR Program website.

Instructors:

Brooke Beam Massani, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Director, Research Support Services, Chemistry & Biochemistry; Manager, W.M. Keck Center for Nano-scale Imaging

Douglas Cromey, M.S., Researcher/Scientist IV, Core Facilities, Office of Research and Partnerships
Co-manager, ORP Imaging Cores Optical; Director, SWEHSC Cellular Imaging Facility Core; Image Data Management Specialist, Data Science Institute - OMERO project