Segmentation and quantitative analysis of the living tumor cells using Large Scale Digital Cell Analysis System

摘要

The specific goal of our research is to develop automated methods for quantitative analysis of tumor cells from microscopic images. By segmenting living tumor cells, cell behavior under stress can be studied. Therefore, accurate acquisition and analysis of microscope images from living cell cultures are .of utmost importance. If cell behavior can be studied through their life span, cell motility and shape changes can be quantified and analyzed in relation with the severity of induced stress. Consequently, cell responses to the environment can be quantitatively analyzed. The Large Scale Digital Cell Analysis System developed at the University of Iowa provides a capability for real-time cell image acquisition. In the work presented here, feasibility of fully automated living tumor cell segmentation is demonstrated allowing future quantitative cell studies. An automated method for identification of the cell boundaries in microscopy images is presented.