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Record W4408449198 · doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.4c06520

imzML Writer: An Easy-to-Use Python Pipeline for Conversion of Continuously Acquired Raw Mass Spectrometry Imaging Data to imzML Format

2025· article· en· W4408449198 on OpenAlexafffund
J. J. Monaghan, Kiera Nguyen, Nicholas Woytowich, Alora Keyowski, Kyle D. Duncan

Bibliographic record

VenueAnalytical Chemistry · 2025
Typearticle
Languageen
FieldChemistry
TopicMass Spectrometry Techniques and Applications
Canadian institutionsUniversity of VictoriaVancouver Island University
FundersNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaMitacsTerry Fox Research InstituteCanada Foundation for InnovationVancouver Island UniversityMichael Smith Health Research BCUniversity of Victoria
KeywordsChemistryPython (programming language)Mass spectrometryMass spectrometry imagingPipeline (software)Raw dataData formatChromatographyComputer graphics (images)Programming languageComputer hardwareComputer science

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a technique that uncovers the contextual distribution of biomolecules in tissue. This involves collecting large data sets with information-rich mass spectra in each pixel. To streamline image processing and interpretation, the MSI community has developed toolboxes for image preprocessing, segmentation, statistical analysis, and visualization. These generally require data to be input as imzML files, an Extensible Markup Language file with vocabulary for mass spectrometry and imaging-specific parameters. While commercial systems (e.g., MALDI) come with proprietary file converters, to our knowledge, no open-access user-friendly converters exist for continuously acquired imaging data (e.g., nano-DESI, DESI). Here, we present imzML Writer, an easy-to-use Python application with a graphical user interface to convert data from vendor format into pixel-aligned imzML files. We package this application with imzML Scout, allowing visualization of the resulting file(s) and batch export of ion images across a range of image and data formats (e.g., PNG, TIF, CSV). To demonstrate the utility of files generated by imzML Writer, we processed nano-DESI data with popular tools such as Cardinal MSI and METASPACE. Overall, this work provides a simple open-access tool for emerging MSI modality users to access advanced MSI processing tools reliant on imzML format. ImzML Writer is available as a distributable Python package via pip or as a standalone program for Mac and PC at https://github.com/VIU-Metabolomics/imzML_Writer.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.003
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.007
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesnone
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Not applicable · Consensus signal: Not applicable
GenreCandidate signal: Software · Consensus signal: Software
Teacher disagreement score0.070
Threshold uncertainty score0.234

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0030.007
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0030.002
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0010.002
Bibliometrics0.0020.001
Science and technology studies0.0010.001
Scholarly communication0.0030.004
Open science0.0050.006
Research integrity0.0010.004
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0700.067

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.026
GPT teacher head0.315
Teacher spread0.289 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

The models applied no category: nothing in the taxonomy fit this work.
Study designNot applicable
Domainnot available
GenreSoftware

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations3
Published2025
Admission routes2
Has abstractyes

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