Virtual Reality Based
Scientific Visualization Tools
for Biomedical Research
- VR-based image manipulation tool
- Accelerate understanding of image-stacks
- Fast and simple to engage with your images
- Interact, and collaborate, all while immersed
- Synchronized virtual 3D work environment
- Bring the full power of human perception
Contact us for more information.
Visualization Tools
View multi-channel confocal microscope image-stacks in fully immersive virtual reality. Compatible workstation based VR systems, like Oculus Rift-S, Oculus Quest in Link Mode, HTC Vive, and Microsoft Mixed Reality (WMR) systems like Samsung Odyssey. Developed for researchers to allow you to see details of cell structure in your images that you have never seen or appreciated before.
- Use ImageJ to prepare image files in NIfTI format
- Load up to 30 channels of 3D image stacks
- Grab image and manipulate for fast identification of regions of interest
- Quickly connect with other researchers online to discuss and manipulate images
- Adjust image settings (brightness, threshold, etc.) for each channel individually
- Grab image and manipulate for fast identification of regions of interest
- Compatible with NVIDIA 1070 class VR workstations (not cell phone based VR)
Use ImageJ (free from NIH) to pre-process your images and to convert them to NIfTI (.nii) file format for viewing in ConfocalVR.
ExMicroVR Installation and Users Guide
(Price per seat – ExMicroVR – Free to Non-Profits, $999 USD Commercial Use)
ConfocalVR: Advanced 3D Image-Stack Viewer
View confocal microscope image-stacks in fully immersive virtual reality. Compatible with most workstation based VR systems. Developed for researchers to allow you to see details of cell structure in your images that you have never seen or appreciated before. Supports online VR collaboration, audio and visual, for up to 4 researchers. ConfocalVR is the “Pro” version of ExMicroVR.
- Use ImageJ to prepare image files in NIfTI format
- Load up to 30 channels of 3D image stacks
- Connect and work with other researchers online anywhere in the world
- Adjust image settings (brightness, threshold, etc.) for each channel individually
- Grab image and manipulate for fast identification of regions of interest
- Measure physical distance between points in the image
- Compute and display voxel intensity histograms
- Compute Blend functions between pairs of channels
- Create, Modify, and Save new channels
- Use “Excluder” objects to hide, or focus on, key image regions
- Mark and count key image objects (e.g. vacuoles)
- Display multi-channel image-stacks as short 30 frame movies
- User Excluder to explore and select the best 2D view for publications
- Compatible with NVIDIA 1070 and above class VR workstations (not cell phones)
(Price per seat – ConfocalVR V3.3 – $999 USD for Non-Profits, $4999 USD Commercial Use)
ConfocalVR Installation and User Guide
Example of multichannel image-stack viewing
News
Nature Toolbox: Virtual-reality applications give science a new dimension
R&D Magazine: Immersive Science LLC Brings VR Tools to Research Labs
Publications
About
Background: Immersive Science was started to build and distribute custom VR applications for the biomedical research community. ImmSci (“im sigh”) builds on the immersive VR experiences that were developed with immune system researchers at Benaroya Research Institute . Working with those scientists a VR application was created for confocal microscopy. The ability to both see and interact with data (grabbing, scaling, adjusting, sharing, collaborating) significantly accelerates understanding.
Best Use: VR tools have been found most valuable in the hypothesis generation step of scientific research. Precise detail measurements are well suited to existing image analysis tools. However, when you are viewing new, high resolution, multi-channel images, you just don’t know what you will find. You can’t design experiments to validate hypotheses, until you make initial observations that lead to new hypothesis. This is where existing ExMicroVR and ConfocalVR customers are finding immersive visualization and manipulation highly useful.
ImmSci tools have been published in The Journal of Molecular Biology, and described in Nature Toolbox and GeekWire. (See News & Publications), and have been downloaded by over 200 research institutes worldwide.