March 2005—The Cell Centered Database (CCDB) was featured in the journal Science's "NetWatch" column, which named the site as a novel way of making microscopic imaging data available to the science community.

The article, which appeared in the March 25 issue, highlighted the CCDB's multidisciplinary appeal, as it benefits a broad range of scientists from "anatomists charting the nuances of neuron branching to modelers hoping to devise more realistic cell simulations." The CCDB is open to any researcher who wishes to contribute data.

Headed by NCMIR Co-Director Maryann Martone, the CCDB is designed to house data from any type of tissue, but the majority of data derives from the nervous system and includes structural and protein distribution information from confocal, multiphoton, and electron microscopy, including correlated microscopy. For each dataset, the CCDB provides the original image data, 3D reconstructions, segmentations, and quantitative data, if available. Martone stated in the article that "the site helps fill the gap between gene and protein databases and those holding images of larger brain structures."

Martone and her CCDB team, which includes Co-Investigators Amarnath Gupta and Ilya Zaslavsky, Lead Developer Joy Sargis, and the production group of Julia Sun, Joshua Tran, and Willy Wong, develop and maintain the expanding site. Since its debut in 2002, the CCDB has grown to accommodate images and raw data on more than 120 datasets, such as this image from a rat's cerebellum that was presented in the "NetWatch" piece. The database has recently added more than 100 examples of filled astrocytes from young and adult rats—data that was supplied by NCMIR's Eric Bushong. Electron tomographic data on the Node of Ranvier and mitochondria also has been added. Another new feature grants users the ability to browse large image datasets online.