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In this article, we describe the use of Python for large-scale automated server-based bio-image analysis in FARSIGHT, a free and open-source toolkit of image analysis methods for quantitative studies of complex and dynamic tissue microenvironments imaged by modern optical microscopes, including confocal, multi-spectral, multi-photon, and time-lapse systems. The core FARSIGHT modules for image segmentation, feature extraction, tracking, and machine learning are written in C++, leveraging widely used libraries including ITK, VTK, Boost, and Qt. For solving complex image analysis tasks, these modules must be combined into scripts using Python. As a concrete example, we consider the problem of analyzing 3-D multi-spectral images of brain tissue surrounding implanted neuroprosthetic devices, acquired using high-throughput multi-spectral spinning disk step-and-repeat confocal microscopy. The resulting images typically contain 5 fluorescent channels. Each channel consists of 6000 × 10,000 × 500 voxels with 16 bits/voxel, implying image sizes exceeding 250 GB. These images must be mosaicked, pre-processed to overcome imaging artifacts, and segmented to enable cellular-scale feature extraction. The features are used to identify cell types, and perform large-scale analysis for identifying spatial distributions of specific cell types relative to the device. Python was used to build a server-based script (Dell 910 PowerEdge servers with 4 sockets/server with 10 cores each, 2 threads per core and 1TB of RAM running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux linked to a RAID 5 SAN) capable of routinely handling image datasets at this scale and performing all these processing steps in a collaborative multi-user multi-platform environment. Our Python script enables efficient data storage and movement between computers and storage servers, logs all the processing steps, and performs full multi-threaded execution of all codes, including open and closed-source third party libraries.
Pubmed ID: 24808857 RIS Download
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A free service that tags gene, protein, and small molecule names in any web page. Clicking on a tagged term opens a small popup showing summary information, and allows the user to quickly link to more detailed information. For each protein or gene, Reflect provides domain structure, sub-cellular localization, 3D structure, and interaction partners. For small molecules, it provides the chemical structure and interaction partners. Reflect can be installed as a plugin to Firefox or Internet Explorer, or can be used by entering a URL in the field provided. It can also be accessed programmatically via a REST or SOAP API, and a Reflect button can easily be added to any web page using Javascript or using a CGI proxy. Reflect was first-prize winner out of over 70 submissions in the Elsevier Grand Challenge, an international competition for systems that improve the way scientific information is communicated and used. Reflect can be edited and improved by the community.
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