Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Unveiling the vision: exploring the potential of image analysis in Africa

Nature Methods volume 20, pages 979–981 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Here we discuss the prospects of bioimage analysis in the context of the African research landscape as well as challenges faced in the development of bioimage analysis in countries on the continent. We also speculate about potential approaches and areas of focus to overcome these challenges and thus build the communities, infrastructure and initiatives that are required to grow image analysis in African research.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: A 10-year outline to develop image analysis in Africa.

References

  1. Reiche, M. A. et al. Nat. Methods 18, 847–855 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Caelers, D. Nat. Africa https://doi.org/10.1038/d44148-023-00047-w (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Kumar, S. “openFrame” for modular, extensible, easily maintained, open-source microscopy. FocalPlane, 10.1242/focalplane.969 (23 July 2020).

  4. Mulder, N. J. et al. Genome Res. 26, 271–277 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Sofroniew, N. et al. napari: a multi-dimensional image viewer for Python (v0.4.17rc8). Zenodo, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7276432 (2022).

  6. von Chamier, L. et al. Nat. Commun. 12, 2276 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank P. French for insightful discussions and A. Koch for thoughtful review of the manuscript. The Advanced Imaging Center at Janelia Research Campus is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The Africa Microscopy Initiative is generously funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Genomics, Helmy Institute for Medical Sciences, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Giza, Egypt

    Mai Atef Rahmoon

  2. Advanced Imaging Center, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA, USA

    Mai Atef Rahmoon

  3. School of Biomedical Engineering, Jimma Institute of Technology, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

    Gizeaddis Lamesgin Simegn

  4. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda

    Wasswa William

  5. Africa Microscopy Initiative, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Michael A. Reiche

Authors
  1. Mai Atef Rahmoon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gizeaddis Lamesgin Simegn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wasswa William
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Michael A. Reiche
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M. A. Rahmoon, G.L.S., W.W. and M. A. Reiche all contributed to the main idea of the commentary as well as the text. M. A. Rahmoon developed and produced the figure. M. A. Reiche drafted and edited the manuscript. The final manuscript was reviewed and approved by all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael A. Reiche.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rahmoon, M.A., Simegn, G.L., William, W. et al. Unveiling the vision: exploring the potential of image analysis in Africa. Nat Methods 20, 979–981 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-023-01907-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-023-01907-x

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing