From time lapse-data to genealogic trees: Using different contrast mechanisms to improve cell tracking

Abstract

The analysis of time lapse data becomes a more and more important tool in (stem) cell biology, as this method enables a marker free analysis of cell populations over time and allows for the reconstruction of genealogical trees; these information can help to understand the mechanisms behind cell proliferation and differentiation. However, the crucial steps in a cell tracking algorithm (cell segmentation, cell tracking and mitosis detection) have to be performed with a high trustworthiness to find the correct lineage of each cell. Here, we present a novel cell tracking algorithm that combines microscopical images with different contrast mechanisms: first, oblique illumination is used to segment and track cells; second, phase contrast microscopy is used to detect the most critical events, the mitosis. The combination of both detection results in a more robust cell tracking. For evaluation, the free reference data CeTReS is used.