Trail-blazing and keeping pace: building, retaining and expanding image analysis expertise

Scientific studies are increasingly complex, involving quantification of many different experimental approaches and technologies. However, it is challenging for any individual scientist to build and retain sufficient expertise and competency in a large range of scientific tools. A deep expertise is critical for rigor and reproducibility; however, focused expertise can easily become a hindrance to inter-disciplinary science. This is particularly true with respect to microscopy and image analysis. Core facilities often bridge this gap, serving as an access point to expertise in cutting-edge technologies while facilitating collaboration. Our purpose with this perspective piece is to share our experience with other Microscopy Core Facility Directors and Image analysts who are aiming to establish image analysis training as a service. We hope that this shared experience can help others optimize their service though our lessons learned, and avoid pitfalls we faced during our Core's timeline. In this paper we explore three elements that have been vital for the establishment and expansion of image analysis at the Center for Advanced Microscopy at Northwestern University. The first is a commitment to dedicated image analysis service. The second is establishing image analysis training programs for the local scientific community, which facilitates integration of analysis into microscopy workflows. The third is engagement with international organizations such as BINA. These organization foster collaborations which ultimately result in the fruitful dissemination of novel tools across the community. These three elements are essential to maximize the potential of imaging-based scientific research and ultimately ensuring equal access to image informatics.