Computer vision and graphics in fluorescence microscopy

The authors analyze medical images which are 3D (or 2D time series) images of individual cells, fluorescently labelled (sometimes dual-labelled) and imaged via a wide-field microscope. The goal is to visualize intracellular structures in these images, and to quantify the spatial relationships among these structures. A local, fast deformable model has been developed which finds the membrane of a cell. DAVE, the visualization tool, is a surface-based algorithm which converts voxel data into surfaces and hence permits the visualization of the cell membrane (as found by the deformable model) in conjunction with the image volume. It also permits the visualization of dual-labelled images and is optimized to emphasize the extent to which the labels colocalize. In addition, a statistical analysis of the significance of the colocalization is performed. The application of the developed tools to several biologically motivated problems is discussed