VSlide
Slide Overview and Image Stitching
The demand for converting microscopic slides into virtual slides is growing. Long-term stability and easy sharing are the reasons why many labs, especially in pathology, appreciate the convenience of virtual slides. The slide scanning platform Metafer has with VSlide a perfect solution for fast digitization of highest quality images. Special features for automated sample detection pre-scan help the user to automatically generate a perfect virtual slide.
- Virtual slides from various staining techniques
Being a microscope based system, VSlide supports a wide range of contrasting techniques, including fluorescence as well as images composed of more than three color channels. Even mixing of contrasting modes in the same virtual slide is supported. - Automated sample detection
Samples like tissue sections or TMAs are automatically detected e.g. in dark field illumination, guaranteeing a precise identification of the sample size and shape. The VSlide scan is automatically started subsequently, and only the regions of interest are digitized. - Image aquisition, image stitching, and image analysis can be spaciotemporal independent
Metafer VSlide offers two working modes: images can be processed during the scan, so that the final virtual slide is available immediately after the system has acquired the last tile. Alternatively, the single images can be stored and processed later, maybe even on another system or with other parameters. This way it is easy to generate partial images from the same set of data, e.g. using only selected color channels. - Offline and online Viewing of VSlide images
VSlide offers easy offline and online image viewing tools. MetaViewer is a dedicated offline file viewer for VSlide images stored in the MetaViewer file format. MetaViewer offers the functionality for on-screen access of all virtual slide image details.
VSlide-Viewer is a web browser based viewer for VSlide JPG tile pyramids. Even large VSlide images can be viewed remotely via network. Any VSlide JPG tile pyramid comes with its own VSlide-Viewer web page which can be easily shared, modified, and integrated into an external server-based catalogue system. Click the following link to view an original VSlide image in the web-based VSlide Viewer environment.
- Image thumbnails
VSlide is capable to automatically generate thumbnails from the virtual slide image. Thumbnail dimensions can be flexibly set based on total pixel size, pixel width, and pixel height, or even based on the file size in MB. It is also possible to create thumbnail images fitting exactly to the current screen resolution. Thumbnail images are stored as TIFF images and can be opened with any standard image viewer. - 3D stack imaging
If required, images can be automatically acquired from various focus planes. VSlide is preserving the focus plane information, thus, allowing for generation of focus stack images and extended focus images. The 3D resolution of the focus stack, and also the offset in relation to the central focus plane can be selected. It is also possible to create focus stack images e.g. from the color image, while the grayscale images are simultaneously processed to an extended focus image. - Intelligent tissue mapping
Low magnification pre-scans can be used to detect relevant regions on the slide, e.g. to detect tissue using a low magnification lens before doing a 20x fluorescence scan. Intelligent tissue mapping avoids scanning of empty regions („holes“) within tissue. - Innovative illumination for transmitted light color imaging
Computer controlled RGB-LED illumination provides a homogenous field, control of color/white balance, and instantaneous color switching. - Full imaging automation
An unlimited number of VSlide parameter sets can be stored and used to automate the scanning workflow. Information on the slide, the preferred scanning parameters, and the output format can be coded into a bar code. Alternatively a processing file, created e.g. by an external database, can control the workflow. - Linking of scan jobs
Different scans can be easily linked and performed subsequently without interaction. This feature can be used e.g. for pre-scans followed by a high magnification analysis scan or, to start conditional scans based on analysis results. - Relocation
Once a virtual slide is created, it keeps all the spatial information of the originally acquired image tiles. This allows for precise relocation of any part of the image under the microscope, or even for subsequent acquisition of selected regions using different parameters.
Zoomable Images:
| Image of Human Cerebellum, acquired with Metafer at 10x magnification, and transferred to a virtual slide image with VSlide. The image has been captured with a b/w CoolCube CCD camera and an electronic LED illumination device. |
 | Two Images from the same rodent pancreas section in direct comparison. The left image shows a grayscale image acquired with Darkfield contrast, the right image shows the three fluorescence channels. Signal channels label cells within the islets of Langerhans (green: insulin; red: glucagon). |
 | Image of a Multisectional Tissue, acquired with Metafer at 10x magnification. A prescan has automatically identified the tissue architecture prior to image acquisition, and only the tissue regions were captured. |
Standard Images:
Zooming into a fluorescently stained tissue section
Zooming into a immunehistochemically stained tissue section
Focus stack: focussing through a tissue section acquired at 63x magnification