Building OMERO at the University of Konstanz – Turning Infrastructure into Community Value

Our sixth featured data steward, Maximilian Müller is part of the Open Science Team of the Communication, Information, Media Centre (KIM) at the University of Konstanz and has an academic background in Environmental Analysis and Toxicology. In his role as a data steward at NFDI4BIOIMAGE, he can draw on his experience as an OMERO system administrator as well as help desk and community use case supervision. He can provide assistance on topics such as research data management, publication of research data and repositories, and data management plans (DMP).

As part of my work in NFDI4BIOIMAGE, I supported the implementation of an OMERO image data management system at the University of Konstanz. The initial situation was characterized by growing amounts of microscopy and imaging data without a centralized solution for long-term storage, structured access or reuse. With the support of the I3D:Bio project, which provided the software packages and actively assisted with the technical installation, we were able to set the foundation for OMERO. However, it quickly became evident that installation alone was only the beginning of a much more complex process of integration, adaptation to local infrastructure and enabling long-term usability for the research community.

The Challenge

Deploying OMERO was not a plug-and-play task. It required careful integration into the existing institutional infrastructure:

• Connection to local LDAP authentication for secure and seamless user access
• Establishing backup and disaster recovery strategies
• Training workflows to ensure users can actively benefit rather than be burdened
• Troubleshooting procedures for complex imaging formats and data flows
• Adapting server resources for scalability and future cross-site collaborations
• Developing usage guidelines, data lifecycle policies and metadata best practices

The most difficult part was ensuring that this system would not just run, but be accepted, used and maintained over time. This meant aligning with researchers’ real-world needs – performance, simplicity and reliability – while advocating for FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles.

Why It Matters

For the imaging community, OMERO is more than storage – it is a collaborative ecosystem. Implementing it locally empowers researchers to:

• Preserve imaging data with full metadata context
• Share datasets securely across teams
• Reuse and re-analyze data without technical barriers
• Lay the groundwork for future open data publishing

The Outcome

We went from a static installation to a fully integrated research data service. The most important lesson: technical infrastructure alone is not enough – success depends on user engagement, institutional alignment and long-term vision.

To Data Stewards: Start early by aligning infrastructure with user needs. Build services not as isolated tools, but as living systems that grow with your research community.

To Researchers: If you’re working toward open and reusable data, don’t think of data management as extra work – think of it as future-proofing your research.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to our Data Stewards via the Help Desk.