The Wake Forest School of Medicine’s Virtual Microscopy Core facility houses state-of-the-art digital technology to create virtual images of glass slides for teaching, research and archival use. The images can be used by individuals or shared by groups and can be incorporated into teleconferences.
“This technology is replacing the need for people to use a microscope to view slides,” said Shadi Qasem, MD, past director of the department’s Virtual Microscopy Core (VMC), a virtual imaging lab that provides services across our institution as well as to external clients. “Physicians, researchers and students can now view slides wherever they have a computer or mobile device and an Internet connection.”

Virtual microscopy offers unprecedented slide-sharing possibilities, makes archives searchable, alleviates physical storage problems, and eliminates breakage or deterioration from aging.
The VMCore hardware includes the Olympus VS-110 and VS200 Virtual Imaging Systems and a Hamamatsu HT NanoZoomer.
Software currently available includes:

The VMC also serves clients outside the Medical Center, such as attorneys who rely on forensic pathology evidence in criminal and civil cases. Virtual microscopy ensures that all parties involved in these cases see the exact same evidence.