The goal of this project is to develop improved digital image deblurring techniques for light microscope images of living and fixed cells labeled with fluorescent antibodies or indicator dyes. This will make the automated analysis of human and mammalian cell images significantly faster and more accurate, thereby enhancing the utility of future instruments in clinical diagnosis and in research. In Phase I the proposers will evaluate the use of 2-D and 3-D image deblurring techniques in automatic fluorescent image acquisition. They will implement and test a number of image deblurring techniques using both single input images and a small number of optical section images. They will test conventional linear filtering and nonlinear filtering techniques such as morphological processing and wavelet transform filtering on 2-D images. They will also test the deblurring of optical section images by deterministic and iterative methods, and the fusion of section images by wavelet transform methods. If one combination of these techniques proves to effect a significant image quality improvement, they will pursue commercialization in a Phase 2 project. The intent is to incorporate the new techniques into PSI's ProbeMaster product line of cytogenetics automation equipment.
As soon as the new techniques are developed and qualified for routine application, they will be incorporated into PSI's ProbeMaster product line of cytogenetics automation equipment, both in new systems sold and as an upgrade to existing systems already in use in cytogenetics labs, thus commercializing the technology quickly.
