Computational Algorithms for Multidimensional Biological Image Organization

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

The microscope has been a widely used tool of biological research for over two hundred years, but interest and developments in microscopy have waxed and waned over the years. Extraordinary advances in genomics over the past few years, however, which have helped identify more physical components of cells and organisms thus creating a new challenge in determining how these parts function together as a living ensemble, have fueled a new demand for microscopy. This project develops an integrated software suite that is used to capture, archive, visualize, analyze and distribute multifocal plane, time-lapse (4-D) microscopic recordings of embryonic development. Advanced visualization aids including roaming space and time, 3-D rendering and arbitrary plane slicing facilitates perception of complex structural dynamics. A comprehensive annotation system enables extensively labeled canonical developmental sequences to be established in a database thereby providing a powerful educational resource for students of embryology. Web site: http://www.loci.wisc.edu/cambio