How imaging facilities support calcium analysis

Consent

Consent * I consent to my responses being used for this research.

Quotation preference * Happy to be quoted by name Anonymously only Please do not quote me

Section 1 — Your facility

C1. Institution and facility name (optional)

C2. Your role * Facility manager / head Senior imaging scientist Image analyst / RSE Technician Academic director Other

C3. How many research groups does your facility serve? research groups

C4. Which of these does your facility support? (select all) Two-photon in vivo imaging One-photon miniscope Widefield / mesoscale Confocal / slice Light-sheet Organoid / iPSC Image analysis support (as a distinct service) Data storage and management Other

C5. Does your facility provide ANALYSIS support, or only instrument access? * key Instrument access only Instrument access + informal help with analysis Instrument access + a formal, charged analysis service We are considering adding an analysis service

C6. How many FTE in your facility work primarily on ANALYSIS (as opposed to instruments)? FTE

Section 2 — The analysis problem

C7. How much of a problem is each of these for your facility? * key

Item	Not a problem	Minor	Moderate	Major
Different groups analyse the same kind of data differently	Different groups analyse the same kind of data differently — Not a problem	Different groups analyse the same kind of data differently — Minor	Different groups analyse the same kind of data differently — Moderate	Different groups analyse the same kind of data differently — Major
Users ask for analysis help we don't have capacity to give	Users ask for analysis help we don't have capacity to give — Not a problem	Users ask for analysis help we don't have capacity to give — Minor	Users ask for analysis help we don't have capacity to give — Moderate	Users ask for analysis help we don't have capacity to give — Major
Users produce results we suspect are wrong	Users produce results we suspect are wrong — Not a problem	Users produce results we suspect are wrong — Minor	Users produce results we suspect are wrong — Moderate	Users produce results we suspect are wrong — Major
Training new users on analysis takes too long	Training new users on analysis takes too long — Not a problem	Training new users on analysis takes too long — Minor	Training new users on analysis takes too long — Moderate	Training new users on analysis takes too long — Major
We cannot reproduce analyses users ran previously	We cannot reproduce analyses users ran previously — Not a problem	We cannot reproduce analyses users ran previously — Minor	We cannot reproduce analyses users ran previously — Moderate	We cannot reproduce analyses users ran previously — Major
Users want analysis support we're not funded to provide	Users want analysis support we're not funded to provide — Not a problem	Users want analysis support we're not funded to provide — Minor	Users want analysis support we're not funded to provide — Moderate	Users want analysis support we're not funded to provide — Major
Data volumes exceed what our storage / compute can handle	Data volumes exceed what our storage / compute can handle — Not a problem	Data volumes exceed what our storage / compute can handle — Minor	Data volumes exceed what our storage / compute can handle — Moderate	Data volumes exceed what our storage / compute can handle — Major

Not a problem

Minor

Moderate

Major

Different groups analyse the same kind of data differently

Users ask for analysis help we don't have capacity to give

Users produce results we suspect are wrong

Training new users on analysis takes too long

We cannot reproduce analyses users ran previously

Users want analysis support we're not funded to provide

Data volumes exceed what our storage / compute can handle

C8. Roughly how many calcium imaging datasets pass through your facility per year? key Fewer than 50 50–200 200–1,000 More than 1,000 Don't know

C9. Do you currently recommend or provide a standard calcium analysis pipeline? If so, which?

C10. If a tool standardised calcium analysis across all your user groups, would that be valuable to the facility? * key Very — it is a real problem for us Somewhat Not really — users prefer their own approaches No — standardising isn't our role

Section 3 — How software gets bought

C11. Which analysis software does your facility currently license? (select all) * key Imaris Aivia arivis Inscopix IDPS MATLAB toolboxes None — we use only open-source tools Other

C11b. For each of the above, approximate annual cost if known

C12. How is software funded at your facility? (select all) * key Recovered through user recharge rates Central institutional / departmental budget Grant-funded (facility or infrastructure grant) Capital equipment budget Case-by-case, no standing budget

C13. What is the internal approval threshold at your institution — the value above which a purchase needs additional quotes, sign-off or a formal process? * key Under £5,000 £5,000–£10,000 £10,000–£25,000 £25,000–£50,000 Over £50,000 Don't know

C14. Who decides on a £15,000/year software licence for your facility? * key Me Me + academic director Departmental committee Central procurement Institutional IT / software governance Don't know

C15. How long would a purchase like that typically take, from decision to signature? Less than 1 month 1–3 months 3–6 months 6–12 months More than 12 months

C16a. Thinking about an annual, facility-wide licence covering all your user groups, with support, onboarding and training — at what annual price would it be SO LOW you would question its quality? * key

Please give your own honest figures. We have deliberately not suggested a price.

£ per year

C16b. At what annual price would it be a BARGAIN — clearly good value? * key £ per year

C16c. At what annual price would it start to feel EXPENSIVE, but still worth considering? * key £ per year

C16d. At what annual price would it be SO EXPENSIVE you would not consider it? * key £ per year

C17. Would your facility be able to RECOVER this cost through user recharge? * key Yes, straightforwardly Yes, but it would need justifying Unlikely No — we would need central funding Don't know

Section 4 — Requirements and commitment

C18. What would your institution require before approving software like this? (select all) * key IT security review Data protection / GDPR review On-premise or self-hosted deployment (data must not leave our infrastructure) Named support contact with an SLA Evidence it produces correct results Compatibility with our existing storage Trial period before purchase Accessibility compliance Other

C19. Would you be willing to: (select all) * key See a demo Run a pilot with 2–3 of your user groups Provide a representative dataset for benchmarking Be named as a reference site Introduce us to your institution's procurement process None of the above

C20. Anything we should have asked?