SEATTLE, Sept. 6, 2016 — Glencoe Software Inc., a supplier of image data management solutions, has announced a partnership with Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH to create a software that extends the open source Bio-Formats image file conversion library to support whole slide images compressed with the JPEG XR compression scheme, like those recorded by the Zeiss Axio Scan.Z1 virtual slide scanner.

Zeiss Axio Scan.Z1 is a whole slide scanner for bright-field and fluorescence samples that is used to record virtual slides of tissue sections in research and clinical pathology labs around the world. The collaboration will add support for files compressed with JPEG XR to Bio-Formats, the image file translation library built and released by Glencoe Software and the Open Microscopy Environment. Bio-Formats is used by scientists and clinicians to access their image data for processing and analysis.

The software developed in the collaboration will be included in the open source distribution of Bio-Formats, so that the worldwide Bio-Formats user community, including researchers, pathologists and imaging specialists worldwide can use the output of this collaboration.

”Axio Scan.Z1 is now used by hundreds of customers, and many of them are working with open-source software using Bio-Formats,” said Thorsten Heupel, product manager for digital pathology at Zeiss. “We are pleased to have this fruitful cooperation to realize JPEG XR compression as an asset for our users and the whole community.”

"I am delighted to announce this collaboration with Zeiss to add support for JPEG XR compression to Bio-Formats,” said Jason Swedlow, founder and president of Glencoe. “We are particularly excited that the software we build in this collaboration will be available for anyone to download and use. This is a great example of how industrial partners can work together and build important capabilities that benefit the global scientific and pathology imaging communities. The work we do together will benefit users of Zeiss Axio Scan.Z1 and, indeed, anyone who uses JPEG XR compression in their image data."

Carl Zeiss Microscopy is a manufacturer of light, x-ray and electron microscope systems for the life sciences and materials research fields. Glencoe is a supplier of image data management solutions for the academic, biotech, pharmaceutical and publication industries.