Data privacy, being an obvious concern to some of our users, got us thinking about how we can give users the ability to share data without compromising confidential information. What grew out of that is a utility that Seth, one of our engineers, developed and we've been using in house for a little while. Another utility for creating FCS files has also been helpful. Both are free :)
-The de-identification utility allows you to quickly remove, edit or replace keywords that contain patient, proprietary or otherwise top-secret information. It writes an entirely new set of FCS files, i.e. your originals stay untouched, so now you can visualize, analyze or share data without compromising confidentiality.
-The text-to-FCS utility allows you to convert CSV (comma separated value) files into FCS files. "Synthetic" FSC files have been useful for data-mining, visualization, and batching operations in FlowJo, and we see the bridge for "generic data" and FlowJo's user interface as a great way to expand FlowJo's capabilities.
To grab the utilities, go here. Enjoy :)
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