Photo of Alex Rigano

Alex Rigano

Team Member

UMass Chan Medical School

Program in Molecular Medicine; BioImage DMS Core

Software Engineer; Director of Operations

Email GitHub Website

I’m an expert software engineer, with experience spanning Java, C, JavaScript, and Python, and expertise ranging from parallel and distributed programming to high-end open-source software engineering. In the Strambio De Castillia lab, I led development of the OMEGA Single Particle Tracking Application, the microscopy metadata harvesting Micro-Meta App, and the automated OMERO Importer for image data and metadata. As a co-author of the LiMi-Model, I helped define the metadata specification that Micro-Meta App implements. Imaging-PHD matters directly to me here: Micro-Meta App is its front end, so the software I build is what turns the LiMi-Model’s metadata standard into a tool researchers actually use to capture reproducible imaging data.

Research Interests

  • My research interest focuses on building solid, reusable, and easy-to-use open-source scientific software that maximizes microscopy data quality, reproducibility, and reuse — extending the capacity of experimental biologists to harness the full potential of big-data science and AI/ML.

Selected Publications

  • Rigano A, et al. (2021). Micro-Meta App: an interactive tool for collecting microscopy metadata based on community specifications. Nature Methods. DOI
  • Hammer M, Huisman M, Rigano A, et al. (2021). Towards community-driven metadata standards for light microscopy: tiered specifications extending the OME model. Nature Methods. DOI
  • Rigano A, et al. (2021). Micro-Meta App: an interactive tool for collecting microscopy metadata based on community specifications. Nature Methods. DOI
  • Ryan, J., Pengo, T., Rigano, A., et al. MethodsJ2: a software tool to capture metadata and generate comprehensive microscopy methods text. Nature Methods. (2021). DOI
  • Rigano A, et al. (2019). OMEGA: a software tool for the management, analysis, and dissemination of intracellular trafficking data that incorporates motion type classification and quality control. BioRxiv.org. DOI

Education

  • M.S., Computer Engineering, University of Applied Arts and Sciences of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), 2013