Hi BioConductor Community,

I have been developing an R package that deals with ECIS data, that is now in a state that I feel is ready for submission to a repository. For context, ECIS uses tiny electrical currents at a variety of frequencies to measure the integrity of endothelial cells in vitro. This generates a large amount of data (similar to a flow cytometry experiment in scale) that can give insights into how the cells are functioning, without having to label or fix the cells for further analysis. Currently, only proprietary tools are available to analyse ECIS datasets and this is the first R implementation of this analysis we are aware of.

Is this kind of software within BioConductor's remit or would a more general repository be more appropriate?

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

A great question! For something like ECIS I'd ask yourself (a) does your package fit with the overall aim of Bioconductor, as a vehicle for 'analysis and comprehension of high-throughput genomic data' (probably yes); (b) are you committed to creating interoperable software consistent with existing Bioconductor practice (primarily S4-based, re-using objects such as SummarizedExperiment or GRanges for both robust code and interoperability); and (c) are you committed to providing fully documented (e.g., through help pages and especially vignettes) and supported (through long-term participation in the support site, bioc-devel mailing list, and perhaps community slack) your software?

If you're in the yes camp on these issues, then definitely submit. With something like ECIS it is definitely possible to seed an open source community within the Bioconductor infrastructure.