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:

Due to COVID-19 the workshop has not been held since Jan 2020. 

To Register:

See the COVID-19 note above.

Responsible Conduct of Research - training credit:

In the past this workshop has counted as one elective credit towards the NIH and NSF Responsible Conduct of Research Certifications. In order to receive this credit, please register for the relevant RCR certification. For more information, please visit the University’s RCR Program website.

Instructors:

Brooke Beam Massani, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Manager, W.M. Keck Center for Nano-scale Imaging

Douglas Cromey, M.S., Researcher/Scientist IV, Core Facilities, Research Innovation & Impact
Co-manager, RII Imaging Cores Optical; Director, SWEHSC Cellular Imaging Facility Core; Image Data Management Specialist, Data Science Institute - OMERO project