Making software open and accessible to benefit research

Dr Alice Pyne, Head of our Nanocharacterisation laboratory, discusses the software her team created to analyse changes in DNA structure, and how making it open and accessible has benefited her field.

Image of Dr Alice Pyne
Dr Alice Pyne, whose research is enabling us to study DNA in unprecedented detail

Dr Alice Pyne is one of the researchers from across the University who has made their research data and software FAIR

The research Alice and her team are doing focuses on developing new microscopy equipment capable of seeing individual biological molecules. 


UoS FAIR - Alice Pyne


We have developed Topostats, a Python toolkit for the automated editing and analysis of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) images. The role of this toolkit is to encourage the community to place greater emphasis on quantitative analysis of microscopy data, and to implement standards for processing across the field. We have developed this tool with a primary focus on DNA and its interactions with other critical biological molecules, and hope to expand it to quantify the structure of all biomolecules. We believe that with the development of automated analysis and quantification tools this data has the power to drive forward our understanding of health and disease."

Dr Alice Pyne

Senior Lecturer in Polymers & Soft Matter | Department of Materials Science and Engineering


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