Hosting and managing large sets of virtual microscopy slides on the internet for E-learning and for reference

Background While the imaging technology for virtual microscopy can be considered mature, the techniques used for the organization and presentation of the digital slides are more complex because of the diversity of user requirements for every project and the technical challenges regarding the structuring and management of the slides. Generally, the presentation of virtual microscopy on the intraand internet requires the availability of tools that act as a bridge between the digital slide repository and a content management system (CMS) for the web presentation. This involves specific programming of the CMS in order to display the virtual slides in a consistent and specific manner and provide for easy expandability. This is true for E-Learning systems, but also for general digital slide repositories on the web. We have created internet platforms for undergraduate and postgraduate pathology teaching and reference and will present our approach for an effective management and presentation of large numbers of digital slides.