Automated Microscopic Cell Tracking
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Microscopic imaging is increasingly becoming an important process driving novel innovation in biology. The microscopic imaging technology is of growing importance to biologists due to the following reasons:
Data available from microscopes is multi-dimensional (2D, 3D, temporal behaviour over scales from picoseconds to days)
Ever decreasing cost of technologies with greater sensitivity and variable spatial resolution
Ability to capture images at multiple spectra
Possibility of observing biological phenomenon in-vivo
Direct observation of biological processes through the development of new fluorescent markers
Better computer-based interfaces for data collation and control
The microscopic images and their analysis are playing a critical role in a number of biological fields such as immunology, embryonic development, cancer and tumour studies, vascular development, cell proliferation and apoptosis. It is predicted that imaging will be increasingly common and will play a similar role that "Next Generation Sequencing" had in the field of genomics. Moreover, the potential of image analysis applies to a vast range of biological questions starting from individual cell to a complete organism.
While microscopic images open a plethora of opportunities, the challenge remains to analyse the vast amount of information that is generated. A common challenge facing biological researchers is making sense of the data contained within these images. In order to deduce a meaningful conclusion, one has to quantify the information.
NICTA's Automated Microscopic Cell Tracking project, in collaboration with Professor Phil Hodgkin from the world leading immunology lab, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, has undertaken these challenges. The researchers at NICTA are aiming to develop a set of innovative algorithms and software platforms to assist biologists analyse microscopic images accurately in order to extract information for important biological discovery in the most effective and efficient manner.