Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
new features has allowed the automation of microscopy and its
incorporation into the field of high-throughput screening [6].
In addition, developments in liquid handling automation now
enable the preparation of samples in a high-throughput approach,
allowing easy screening of collections of thousands of compounds
[7]. Furthermore, the software tools for analyzing the output of
the screening have been further developed to optimize object
segmentation [8] in the images and to allow the extraction of
information at all the cellular and intracellular levels [9]. Moreover,
many of the applications for biological analysis are even already
preset in the software of the HCS systems, in increasingly friendly
program interfaces for the operator. Some of these typically used
biological software applications are listed in Table 9.1.
Table 9.1
Typical applications for biological analysis using image based
HCS technology
Some pre-set biological applications in HCS systems
Cell count
Nuclear size
Cell size
Cell cycle
Cell perimeter
Neurite analysis (number, length, branching)
Protein expression or reporter expression (intensity, localization)
Organelles (number, size, morphology, distance to nuclei, etc.)
Texture
The possibility to obtain an almost unlimited quantity of biological
parameters from a large number of cell images taken from multi-
well plates poses a challenge for informatics and data management,
which needs to be addressed by every HCS core facility. Some of these
use their own homemade programs for solving all their customary
needs, while others use commercially available software able to
deal with the chemistry of the compounds, hit identification, library
management, and visualization of the results [10, 11].
Since the field first began to evolve and continues to do so,
several companies have inundated the market with instruments
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