Collaborations

Solving imaging challenges together.

Helmholtz Imaging Collaborations are your opportunity to directly tap into the expertise of Helmholtz Imaging. As part of a Collaboration, you will team up with one or multiple of our units and closely work together on solving imaging-related problems. A Collaboration is of collaborative nature and necessitates the active contribution of all parties involved. Collaborations can run for up to six months or longer, allowing us to take a deep dive into a specific problem and solve it for good!

Suitable topics for a collaboration are anything that is related to imaging and image analysis. Our Helmholtz Imaging Units offer a wide range of expertise covering the entire imaging pipeline, from the development of new imaging modalities all the way to AI-based image analysis. Whether you require support in (AI-based) image analysis, image reconstruction, annotation, data management, software solutions, addressing inverse problems, developing novel imaging modalities, 3D visualization and more – we are your partner. For more information about the expertise of our units, take a look at our team page. 

Interested in a Collaboration? Apply now!

The application process is simple and straightforward: Applications are handled via the Support Hub. Either send us an email or use our application form.

Your application should include the following information:

  • Problem statement,
  • Desired outcome / how can HI help solve the problem,
  • List of participating researchers,
  • Contact information of main applicant,
  • Depending on the task additional information is considered beneficial (e.g. sample data, respective annotations, prior publications etc.),
  • (optional) If you have already been in contact with one of our units or this application has emerged from an interaction initiated by the Support Hub feel free to name a desired Helmholtz Imaging unit to collaborate with

Review of your application: We will then review your application and, unless a desired partner unit is specified, match you with one of our units. If your application is accepted, you and the designated Helmholtz Imaging unit will then enter the evaluation phase.

Evaluation phase (duration 1-2 weeks): The goal of the exploration phase is to assess the feasibility of the project, agree on a desired (quantifiable) outcome and set a preliminary timeline.

Working Phase (up to 6 months): Following a successful evaluation phase, you and your Helmholtz Imaging collaborators work on the actual project. 

If the time is up and the predefined goals are not yet reached, both partners assess the current state of the project and evaluate whether a prolongation is desired and may lead to the desired outcome. If both parties agree, the Collaboration can be extended.

Just like the rest of our portfolio, Helmholtz Imaging Collaborations are free of charge. Helmholtz Imaging Collaborations do not offer opportunities for obtaining additional funding. Any contribution of Helmholtz Imaging is subject to our Publication Policy.

Collaborations Gallery


3D image of BESSY II
 

Capturing Reality at BESSY II

The experimental hall at BESSY II (Berliner Elektronenspeicherring) is a constantly evolving space, featuring a diverse range of structures, devices, and experiments managed by various departments, companies, and individuals. This dynamic nature necessitates regular updates to ensure the floor plan accurately reflects the hall’s current state. To address this, a video drone is deployed to […]
Visual; Collaboration on "AI-based classification of phytoplankton community composition from field samples"
 

AI-based classification of phytoplankton community composition from field samples

Phytoplankton biodiversity is a key indicator of marine ecosystems health. Due to climate change derived impacts, phytoplankton communities worldwide are being affected by changes in the water temperatures and the access to nutrients and light. Current methods to quantitatively classify phytoplankton samples require taxonomy experts to manually count and classify the individual cells they see […]
Image: Andreas Müller, Deborah Schmidt, Martin Weigert. Blender rendering of organelles within a single beta cell

BetaSeg

Volume electron microscopy is the method of choice for the in situ interrogation of cellular ultrastructure at the nanometer scale, and with the increase in large raw image datasets generated, improving computational strategies for image segmentation and spatial analysis is necessary. Here we describe a practical and annotation-efficient pipeline for organelle-specific segmentation, spatial analysis and […]