--- a
+++ b/ants/utils/channels.py
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+
+ 
+
+__all__ = ['merge_channels',
+           'split_channels']
+
+
+
+
+import ants
+from ants.internal import get_lib_fn
+from ants.decorators import image_method
+
+
+def merge_channels(image_list, channels_first=False):
+    """
+    Merge channels of multiple scalar ANTsImage types into one 
+    multi-channel ANTsImage
+    
+    ANTsR function: `mergeChannels`
+
+    Arguments
+    ---------
+    image_list : list/tuple of ANTsImage types
+        scalar images to merge
+    
+    Returns
+    -------
+    ANTsImage
+
+    Example
+    -------
+    >>> import ants
+    >>> image = ants.image_read(ants.get_ants_data('r16'))
+    >>> image2 = ants.image_read(ants.get_ants_data('r16'))
+    >>> image3 = ants.merge_channels([image,image2])
+    >>> image3 = ants.merge_channels([image,image2], channels_first=True)
+    >>> image3.numpy()
+    >>> image3.components == 2
+    """
+    inpixeltype = image_list[0].pixeltype
+    dimension = image_list[0].dimension
+    components = len(image_list)
+
+    for image in image_list:
+        if not ants.is_image(image):
+            raise ValueError('list may only contain ANTsImage objects')
+        if image.pixeltype != inpixeltype:
+            raise ValueError('all images must have the same pixeltype')
+
+    libfn = get_lib_fn('mergeChannels')
+    image_ptr = libfn([image.pointer for image in image_list])
+    
+    image = ants.from_pointer(image_ptr)
+    image.channels_first = channels_first
+    return image
+
+@image_method
+def split_channels(image):
+    """
+    Split channels of a multi-channel ANTsImage into a collection
+    of scalar ANTsImage types
+    
+    Arguments
+    ---------
+    image : ANTsImage
+        multi-channel image to split
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    list of ANTsImage types
+
+    Example
+    -------
+    >>> import ants
+    >>> image = ants.image_read(ants.get_ants_data('r16'), 'float')
+    >>> image2 = ants.image_read(ants.get_ants_data('r16'), 'float')
+    >>> imagemerge = ants.merge_channels([image,image2])
+    >>> imagemerge.components == 2
+    >>> images_unmerged = ants.split_channels(imagemerge)
+    >>> len(images_unmerged) == 2
+    >>> images_unmerged[0].components == 1
+    """
+    inpixeltype = image.pixeltype
+    dimension = image.dimension
+    components = 1
+
+    libfn = get_lib_fn('splitChannels')
+    itkimages = libfn(image.pointer)
+    antsimages = [ants.from_pointer(itkimage) for itkimage in itkimages]
+    return antsimages
+
+
+
+