Automated detection of cell colonies and coverslip detection using hough transforms

摘要

The present invention provides methods and systems for automatic detection of the location of cell colonies on a specimen slide, in particular under the coverslip of a specimen slide. Slide scanning can be performed using an automated microscope with motorized axes. The location of the colonies can be determined by image analysis, which is followed by automatically finding metaphase cells and associating them with each colony. The invention also provides an automated, Hough-transform-based method for identifying the location of the slide coverslip and, if desired, analyzing only the image area contained within the coverslip.