Automated cell junction tracking with modified active contours guided by SIFT flow

We present a novel algorithmic approach to track multiple cell junctions automatically in the developing epidermis of the C. elegans embryo. 3D cell boundaries are projected into 2D for segmentation using active contours with a non-intersection force, and subsequently tracked using SIFT (Scale-Invariant Feature Transform) flow. Our method achieves MAD (Mean Absolute Distance) less than 3 pixels between all tracked cell contours and ground truth data. Using this method we have generated a quantitative description of epidermal cell movements and shape changes during the process of epidermal enclosure.