A Free/Libre Open-Source (FLOSS) Suite of Interactive Tools for Physiology Data Analysis

We live in an era of Big Data analytics in biomedical research. While there have been great advances in monitoring devices and analysis algorithms, there is no prescribed work-flow for analyzing biological data obtained from imaging or physiology experiments. Most laboratories use their own unique process for analyzing data and this often involves a mix of proprietary and Free/Libre Open-Source software (FLOSS). Many FLOSS tools are available, however, none comprehensively addresses the needs of current data-intensive biomedical research—specifically the need for free access and reproducibility. We have developed a FLOSS interactive analysis tool-set based on IPython/Python and specifically tailored to a physiology laboratory's work-flow. IPython provides an interactive work-flow that is easy to learn, use, and modify—thus facilitating training of new users in a laboratory and resulting in more rapid data analysis. Our IPython modules incorporate signal analysis tools used for time-series data (including ...