Inclusive sharing of mass spectrometry imaging data requires a converter for all

With continued efforts towards a single MSI data format, data conversion routines must be made universally available. The benefits of a common imaging format, imzML, are slowly becoming more widely appreciated but the format remains to be used by only a small proportion of imaging groups. Increased awareness amongst researchers and continued support from major MS vendors in providing tools for converting proprietary formats into imzML are likely to result in a rapidly increasing uptake of the format. It is important that this does not lead to the exclusion of researchers using older or unsupported instruments. We describe an open source converter, imzML Converter, to ensure against this. We propose that proprietary formats should first be converted to mzML using one of the widely available converters, such as msconvert and then use imzML Converter to convert mzML to imzML. This will allow a wider audience to benefit from the imzML format immediately. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Imaging Mass Spectrometry: A User's Guide to a New Technique for Biological and Biomedical Research. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.