Computer vision and graphics in fluorescence microscopy
Lawrence M. Lifshitz, Kevin E. Fogarty, John M. Gauch, Edwin D.W. Moore · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1992
The focus of this paper is on the visualization of intracellular structures in 3-D, dual labelled, fluorescent images, and the quantification of the spatial relationships among these structures. Specifically, a local, fast deformable model has been developed which finds the membrane of a cell. Two visualization algorithms have also been developed. One is a surface-based algorithm which converts voxel data into planar surfaces and hence permits the visualization of the cell membrane (as found by the deformable model) in conjunction with the original data. The second is a 3-D voxel-based algorithm which permits the simultaneous visualization of two data sets and is optimized to emphasize the extent to which the data in two 3-D images (one from each fluorescent label) co-localize. In addition, a quantitative analysis of overlap between two data volumes has also been performed. The application of the developed tools to several biologically motivated problems is discussed.