FAQ

Even though the potential of multi-modal integration between different sensor types is well recognized, much past work has focused on developing instrumental and chemical answers, while broad computational approaches capable of handling the heterogeneity and multi-resolution challenges have been largely lacking. As a result, biological insights are often segregated along technological borders, and important structural information may be overlooked. The Molecular Image Fusion system addresses this challenge and makes cross-modality modeling across different molecular imaging modalities a reality.

Dr. Raf Van de Plas & Dr. Richard M. Caprioli

Van de Plas R., Yang J., Spraggins J. & Caprioli R.M., Image fusion of mass spectrometry and microscopy: a multimodality paradigm for molecular tissue mapping, Nature Methods, accepted.
(http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nmeth.3296)

An overview of the Molecular Image Fusion system is provided in the peer-reviewed publication listed above. A mathematical description of the methodology is provided in the Supplementary Information that accompanies that publication. The software package that can be downloaded through the Licensing Options page, the Fusion Tool Prototype, includes a stand-alone example implementation of the system, a user manual, and an example IMS-microscopy data set.

The Fusion Tool Prototype software package makes use of the MATLAB environment to accomplish its tasks. It therefore requires either MATLAB or a free MATLAB Compiler Runtime (MCR) to be installed. The MCR can be downloaded from the MathWorks website at http://www.mathworks.com/products/compiler/. Our software requires MCR version 7.17 (R2012a) or later.

The Molecular Image Fusion system and the Fusion Tool Prototype command line utility work on any platform that supports MATLAB, including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Please note that the Fusion Tool Prototype utility is provided free of charge to academic and not-for-profit institutions are only available in the Windows platform.

The software package Fusion Tool Prototype includes a full stand-alone implementation of the Molecular Image Fusion framework as a command line utility, as well as a user manual, and an example IMS-microscopy multi-modal data set.

Fusion Tool Prototype utility for academic/not-for-profit users:
The Fusion Tool Prototype utility is provided free of charge to academic and not-for-profit institutions via our academic online licensing process for non-commercial research purposes. Once you have completed checkout with this item, you will receive an e-mail with download instructions.

Fusion Tool Prototype utility for commercial users:
The Fusion Tool Prototype utility must be licensed commercially by users at for-profit institutions. Please provide the initial licensee information requested in this form, and a representative will contact you to review licensing options for your organization.

Molecular Image Fusion framework licensing:
Custom implementations of the Molecular Image Fusion framework (beyond the Fusion Tool Prototype utility) can be licensed as well. Please provide the initial licensee information requested in this form, and a representative will contact you to review licensing options for your institution.

If the Fusion Tool Prototype software package or its example data are used in a publication, cite Van de Plas R., Yang J., Spraggins J. & Caprioli R.M., Image fusion of mass spectrometry and microscopy: a multimodality paradigm for molecular tissue mapping, Nature Methods, advanced online publication (doi:10.1038/nmeth.3296).