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Along the lines of what Craig said, multimodal imaging approaches are also
best, and answers would also be dependent on the users willingness to use
non-traditional methods regardless of how easy they may be to implement
(suck as Rheinberg illumination).  Also, the user would need to be aware of
how they intend to quantify their data to know therefore how they need to
collect that data, and the resolution they need, FOV, colocalization,
multi-spectral, how many dimensions, etc.  Many times I have run into
people who collected months worth of data using the correct instrument,
only to find out the data was collected incorrectly and cannot be
quantified, resulting in needing to reacquire the entire set again
correctly.

For example, if you wanted to measure something as "simple" as
colocalization, depending on the nature of the question and resources
available you could do BiFC, fluorescence anisotropy, FRET, FCCS, super
resolution (Airy scanning, STORM, STED, GSD, etc.), CLEM, hyperspectral
microscopy, the list goes on and on.  On top of that, for each of these
modalities, there are further considerations for what probes to use
(especially for BiFC, as well as FRET and STORM) and how best to set up the
experiment.  Then comes the whole other half which is how to quantify
colocalization data, and the amount and type of information that can be
gleaned by each of these methods.

Although, I could also be grossly over complicating things, but in my
experience users often don't even know how to phrase what it is that they
want to do in terms of what the microscope is capable of, which is the
whole reason why skilled microscopists are highly sought after to help
bridge that gap.  However, if someone had the insight to condense all this
into an app a non-microscopist could easily navigate and understand, that
would be revolutionary to the field and definitely would be a major
contribution to the scientific endeavor that would be greatly appreciated
by millions!  I just hope it wouldn't encourage even more people to collect
months of worthless data, because they did not fully understand what they
were trying to do.



On Wed, Apr 28, 2021 at 9:55 AM Craig Brideau <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> I feel that you would have to ask far too many questions to account for
> even the more common variables in sample type, preparation, etc. even
> before you consider the equipment. I would instead consider a first-pass
> "screening questionnaire" that would be forwarded to an actual microscopy
> professional for followup.
>
> Craig
>
> On Wed, Apr 28, 2021 at 10:29 AM VERMEREN Matthieu <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > *****
> > To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> > http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> > Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your
> posting.
> > *****
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > I've been repetitively asked by some users if I could build a Web app
> that
> > would guide them through a series of questions (like a personality test)
> to
> > the ideal microscope(s) for their experiment.  Does anyone have
> experience
> > with this?  Which app have you used?
> >
> > Obviously, I'd rather they come and talk but maybe I'm just scary :-)
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Matthieu
> >
> > The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland,
> > with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th' ann
> an
> > Oilthigh Dh?n ?ideann, cl?raichte an Alba, ?ireamh cl?raidh SC005336.
> >
>


-- 
Benjamin E. Smith, Ph. D.
Imaging Specialist, Vision Science
University of California, Berkeley
195 Weill Hall
Berkeley, CA  94720-3200
Tel  (510) 642-9712
Fax (510) 643-6791
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
https://vision.berkeley.edu/faculty/core-grants-nei/core-grant-microscopic-imaging/