Bio-Rad *.1sc file format: documentation and python3 package

• *.1sc files for Bio-Rad instruments are generated by Bio-Rad Quantity One software.
• Documentation of 1sc file format I created from my own analysis: http://biorad1sc-doc.readthedocs.io/
• python3 package to read 1sc files: pip3 install biorad1sc_reader

Introduction

Files ending in .1sc are generated from Bio-Rad Quantity One software.  This software is used in biology research for interfacing with scanner/camera instruments observing cell cultures or various gel blot analyses.

My contributions

There is no public file specification for this file format.  In making software for a colleague who requested 1sc support, I ended up examining and understanding a significant portion of the structure of this file.  Starting by viewing the java code in the Bio-Formats‘ implementation of their 1sc reader plugin, I went on to understand a lot more about the structure of these files.

My best knowledge of the 1sc file format so far is now posted in the following documentation:

http://biorad1sc-doc.readthedocs.io/

I have also created a python package to read in 1sc files.  It is available for python3 on pypi under the name ‘biorad1sc_reader‘.  It is also visible on github:

https://github.com/itsayellow/biorad1sc_reader

Installing that package using pip3 install biorad1sc_reader also installs the following command-line scripts:

• bio1sc2tiff, which converts one or many *.1sc files to TIFF images.  Type bio1sc2tiff --help for documentation.
• bio1scmeta – exports all metadata contained in a *.1sc file to a text file.  Type bio1scmeta --help for documentation
• bio1scread – read and report in a detailed manner the internal structure of a *.1sc file.  Type bio1scread --help for documentation

I am still actively improving all of this code, but they’re functional right now.