The virtual microscopy database—sharing digital microscope images for research and education

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, virtual microscopy has become the predominant modus of teaching the structural organization of cells, tissues, and organs, replacing the use of optical microscopes and glass slides in a traditional histology or pathology laboratory setting. Although virtual microscopy image files can easily be duplicated, creating them requires not only quality histological glass slides but also an expensive whole slide microscopic scanner and massive data storage devices. These resources are not available to all educators and researchers, especially at new institutions in developing countries. This leaves many schools without access to virtual microscopy resources. The Virtual Microscopy Database (VMD) is a new resource established to address this problem. It is a virtual image file-sharing website that allows researchers and educators easy access to a large repository of virtual histology and pathology image files. With the support from the American Association of Anatomists (Bethesda, MD) and MBF Bioscience Inc. (Williston, VT), registration and use of the VMD are currently free of charge. However, the VMD site is restricted to faculty and staff of research and educational institutions. Virtual Microscopy Database users can upload their own collection of virtual slide files, as well as view and download image files for their own non-profit educational and research purposes that have been deposited by other VMD clients. Anat Sci Educ 11: 510-515. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.

Optical Versus Virtual Microscope for Medical Education: A Systematic Review

“…Virtual microscopy has also provided a solution to obtaining multiple identical copies of rare biospecimens for teaching at a reasonable cost (Dee, ). The virtual microscopy database (VMD), supported by the American Association of Anatomists (Bethesda, MD) and MBF Bioscience Inc. (Williston, VT), is one of the most prominent file‐sharing database currently available (Lee et al, ). File sharing of digital images, offered by the VMD, is especially beneficial for residency training programs by providing access to a large repository of virtual histology and pathology image files while offsetting the high start‐up costs associated with adoption of VM.…”

Students’ Views on Difficulties in Learning Histology

“…Thus, based on these lectures and laboratory sessions, students were expected to construct heuristic, abstract models that integrated the structure–function of tissues. Over the last few decades, information and communication technologies (ICT) have provided interesting and alternative teaching strategies to engage and motivate students, as well as to reform the learning environment: digital images (Heidger et al, ; Coleman, ), e‐learning (Khalil et al, ; Sander and Golas, ; Şahin and Baturay, ), animations and videos (Brisbourne et al, ; Campos‐Sánchez et al, ), systematization of tissue structures in symbolic models (De Juan and Pérez‐Cañaveras, ), development of virtual laboratories and virtual microscopes (Husmann et al, ; Bloodgood, ; Avila et al, ; Helle et al, ; Mione et al, ; Gatumu et al, ; Lee et al, ), creation of online atlases (Silva‐Lopes and Monteiro‐Leal, ; Ávila and Samar, ), and flipped classroom techniques (García Irles et al, ). Other activities, strategies, and teaching resources have been used in different studies as interactive programs (Alexander et al, ).…”

Clinical pathology clerkships contribute greatly to pathology education and residents recruitment: a randomized and prospective study from China

“…There is little doubt that virtual microscopy, virtual slides, and web-based learning contribute greatly to pathology teaching and learning (Domizio, 2006;KUMAR et al, 2010;Szymas and Lundin, 2011). However, there are still key limitations in the application of these methods, such as lack of funds and techniques, especially in developing countries (Dee, 2009;Paulsen, Eichhorn and Bräuer, 2010;Lmj, Goldman and Hortsch, 2018). The number of consented autopsies, which has been in decline for some time, has fallen even further, so that autopsy demonstrations have now become exceedingly rare ( Domizio, 2006), resulting in deleterious effects on the renewal of GS and MS preparations used for teaching.…”